I lately joined the Museum Computer Group which has a very active discussion list, and a question was posed lately about how many physical visitors do museums get, versus website traffic these days. @Mia_out helpfully pointed to the UK's Department for Culture, Media and Sport's "Sponsored Museums: Performance Indicators 2010-11" which included downloadable spreadsheets of performance indicators like physical and web visitors at http://www.culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/research_and_statistics/8609.aspx.
Here I've quickly juxtaposed the total physical visits to museums sponsored by DCMS with their corresponding total web visits (there arent any more nuanced stats, before you ask). Although the ratio varies from museum to museum (check out the V+A! 8 times as many online visitors as physical visitors!) it just gives demonstrable proof of how important web presence is to cultural and heritage organisations.
Have a look (below, I'm having bother with blogger and tables...). Fascinating.
![]()
Here I've quickly juxtaposed the total physical visits to museums sponsored by DCMS with their corresponding total web visits (there arent any more nuanced stats, before you ask). Although the ratio varies from museum to museum (check out the V+A! 8 times as many online visitors as physical visitors!) it just gives demonstrable proof of how important web presence is to cultural and heritage organisations.
Have a look (below, I'm having bother with blogger and tables...). Fascinating.
| Institution | Total Physical Visits 2010-2011 | Total Unique Web Visits 2010-2011 | Ratio |
| British Museum | 5,869,396 | 21,496,815 | 3.662526 |
| Geffrye Museum | 104,691 | 527,082 | 5.034645 |
| Horniman Museum | 584,974 | 252,867 | 0.43227 |
| Imperial War Museum | 2,317,639 | 8,587,082 | 3.705099 |
| Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester | 638,347 | 330,000 | 0.51696 |
| National Gallery | 5,084,929 | 4,500,000 | 0.884968 |
| National Maritime Museum | 2,450,155 | 10,052,347 | 4.102739 |
| National Museums Liverpool | 2,635,993 | 3,176,266 | 1.20496 |
| National Museum of Science and Industry | 4,093,463 | 15,020,206 | 3.669315 |
| National Portrait Gallery | 1,758,488 | 13,724,626 | 7.804788 |
| Natural History Museum | 4,812,197 | 7,397,821 | 1.537306 |
| Royal Armouries | 462,753 | 403,379 | 0.871694 |
| Sir John Soane's Museum | 109,604 | 365,099 | 3.331074 |
| Tate Gallery | 7,450,000 | 19,427,000 | 2.607651 |
| Tyne and Wear Museums Service | 2,018,233 | 1,006,250 | 0.49858 |
| Victoria and Albert Museum | 3,049,000 | 24,976,400 | 8.191669 |
| Wallace Collection | 357,538 | 305,609 | 0.854759 |
| Total Visits | 43,797,400 | 131,548,849 | 3.003577 |
