It then went global, launching in Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the UK in 2015 and to a further 29 countries a year later.
Despite the best efforts of alternative autosomal DNA test suppliers targeting genealogists, AncestryDNA remains the most likely route to matching with the descendents of your extended ancestral family.
Ancestry also advised that it would shortly be making changes to the data available to DNA test customers. In future, 'distant cousin' matches will only be shown on the Ancestry website if you share a minimum of 8cM in your DNA. (If you've already saved such information, or have been in touch via the messaging system with your match, this detail will continue to be shown to you.)
Otherwise, the minimum threshold for 'distant cousin' status will be 8cM, and your total number of matches will probably reduce. I for one will not miss being presented with hundreds of matches I'm never going to explore!
Another addition to the data will be along shortly. It will record the longest segment of matching DNA. I'm not sure when this will go live.