Over the last biennium Tate Online has consolidated its position as an interactive platform offering access to art for all. The site continues to serve three primary functions: helping users to plan and extend a gallery visit, and acting as a destination in its own right.
Key additions made in the period 2004–6 included a dynamic calendar, enabling online visitors to search Tate programmes across the sites, and tailored emailing lists. The distribution of over 300,000 e-bulletins a month grew in importance as a means of driving advanced ticket sales. The micro-sites developed to accompany major exhibitions grew increasingly rich in content. Efforts were focused in particular on contemporary artists about whom there was little existing information online and with whom Tate could work actively in partnership.
Advantage was taken of the uptake in broadband connections to deliver increased multimedia content. The webcast programme flourished, and audio and video content was made common throughout the site to bring additional insight to the art, artists and programmes on offer. Effort was also made to increase the range of user-generated and partnership content on the site. New initiatives soliciting visitor contributions included Write Your Own Label and Create Your Own Collection. Highlight partnership projects included the 40 Artists 40 Days countdown to the 2012 Olympic City announcement, created with BT, and the latest series of net art works, co-commissioned with the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, which can be found at www.tate.org.uk/netart.
Unique visitors to Tate Online rose to over 5 million in 2004–5 and over 8 million in 2005–6. This 56% increase in traffic on 2002–4 represented the largest market share for any UK visual arts or museum site.
