2008
NetBenefit chosen to host media rich website for world famous Sadler's Wells
April 30 2008
NetBenefit today announced it has been selected by Sadler's Wells, the world’s premier international dance venue, to provide the hosting platform for its exciting new media rich website.
Based in Islington, North London, the beautifully designed theatre has played host to many famous faces both on stage and in the audience, including Darcey Bussell, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Kylie Minogue. As well as its main stage housing 1500 seats, Sadler's Wells has a smaller theatre onsite, and a West End base at the Peacock Theatre off Kingsway, which presents a programme of popular shows including the annual Christmas hit, The Snowman.
Sadler's Wells is 70% dependant on ticket sales, and with at least 55% of bookings completed online at any time, the website is a critical tool for the historical theatre, raising essential funds which are vital to any charitable organisation. The website enables visitors to choose and buy their theatre seats, purchase merchandise from the online shop and view performance information, including high resolution video clips. The theatre also launched its own YouTube channel in 2007.
"We have significantly redesigned our website to incorporate a greater degree of interactivity, enhancing the experience for the 60,000 – 90,000 website visitors we receive each day," explains Alec Cuffy, IT manager at Sadler's Wells. "In addition to the consistently high volume of daily traffic, we see considerable peaks when tickets go on sale for the world famous dancers and productions that the theatre attracts. The changes to our website meant that we needed a web hosting provider that could deliver sufficient bandwidth to guarantee our visitors the best user experience.
"We chose NetBenefit because we were confident that they could provide us with an increased level of web hosting services but also because we were impressed by their focus on service delivery. Everything has happened exactly as it should have done."
Colin Bell, sales and marketing director, NetBenefit comments: "Sadler's Wells' website has two main functions for its visitors – to provide compelling content about its productions and to generate a substantial percentage of the revenue that the theatre needs to continue to celebrate world class contemporary dance. With between 55% and 95% of bookings being conducted online, it is of the utmost importance that the website has sufficient levels of resilience to ensure it remains available but also that response times and page loading are fast so that all visitors enjoy a positive website experience that brings them back time after time. NetBenefit works closely with all of its clients to ensure that the solution we design and deliver is the very best for their business needs. When reputation and revenue rest upon the continuous availability of a website, your hosting provider becomes essential to the success of your online business."
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For further information please contact Jonathan Bawden or Emily Gallagher, Portfolio Communications – 0207 240 6959 or netbenefit@portfoliocomms.com
Notes to Editors:
About NetBenefit
NetBenefit is part of London listed Group NBT plc (LSE: NBT.). Established in 1995, NetBenefit is an experienced provider of Managed Hosting services in the UK, with a range of services to suit every level of business. Its world-class network infrastructure allows it to guarantee resilient, available and secure Managed Hosting for businesses that need a hosting provider they can depend upon.
Group NBT plc is a leading provider of domain name management and Internet-related services through its 5 market-leading brands which include NetNames, NetBenefit and Easily.co.uk. Group NBT plc currently has over 250 employees world-wide, with offices in London, Copenhagen, New York, Nice, Munich, Zurich, Oslo, and Madrid.
For further information about NetBenefit or GroupNBT please visit www.netbenefit.com or www.groupnbt.com
About Sadler's Wells
Sadler's Wells is the epicentre for dance in the UK, bringing the most diverse forms of world-class international and UK dance to the widest possible audiences. The theatre presents a programme of dance in all its forms from tango to tap and contemporary to classical for approximately 48 weeks of the year. As a well-established producing house under the Artistic Directorship of Alistair Spalding, Sadler’s Wells is committed to producing, commissioning and presenting works of the highest possible standard and ground-breaking collaborations on an international scale, including the award-winning zero degrees and PUSH. It regularly attracts artists and companies from all over the world including; Cuban ballet sensation Carlos Acosta, American tap superstar Savion Glover, the prestigious New York City Ballet company, and the renowned National Ballet of China.
The theatre is dedicated to working with celebrated artists, performers and companies at the forefront of dance, many of whom are Associate Artists and Resident Companies of the theatre, including Sylvie Guillem, Akram Khan, Matthew Bourne and his company New Adventures, Christopher Wheeldon, Wayne McGregor, Russell Maliphant, Jasmin Vardimon, Michael Nunn and William Trevitt (aka the Ballet Boyz) and Jonzi D.
Sadler's Wells generates 87% of its own income and is 70% dependant on ticket sales.
For further information about Sadler's Wells please visit: www.sadlerswells.com
