Online Events Calendar Partnership Delivers Results

The private/public partnership between Eventfinder and the Ministry for Culture and Heritage is bringing more events and attractions to a bigger audience, according to both organisations’ chief executives. This is good for both cultural event organisers and attendees, they say.

The events and attractions on the Ministry’s NZLive site moved to Eventfinder in January this year. The Ministry retained two staff working with the cultural sector to profile their events and attractions and add richer content on Eventfinder.

In the first week of the consolidated database being in action under the Eventfinder brand, the website received 18% more visits, and the number of page views increased from 271,226 to 314,307 over the previous week.

Eventfinder is the largest events website in the country. Its content is also syndicated to five of the country’s top ten websites. The number of upcoming events published across the network has increased from 2,500 to 3,500 as a result of the partnership.

“The NZLive and Eventfinder partnership’s aim was to ensure that cultural groups and smaller attractions like museums throughout the country have access to the largest possible audience, and pleasingly the figures bear this out,” Ministry for Culture and Heritage’s chief executive Lewis Holden said.

“This partnership is delivering real results for the cultural sector in a highly cost-effective way for the tax payer,” Mr Holden said.

Access by third parties to the information published on the Eventfinder Platform through RSS feeds will remain free under the partnership agreement. People wanting to list or access content on Eventfinder can do so free of charge.

Eventfinder’s chief executive Michael Turner is equally as pleased with the partnership.

“Our audience now receives more comprehensive information, which is great for them. We have received an overwhelmingly positive response since undertaking this partnership. It’s a big win for the industry,” said Mr Turner.

Under the partnership MCH staff will use Eventfinder’s world-class technical platform to publish and moderate event information. The cultural sector now has a single point of entry for event information, eliminating duplicate clerical and administrative functions for organisers and promoters.

ENDS

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