Rob Greig, Chief Technology Officer from the Royal Opera House, discusses the new approach for mobile apps for the arts within his R&D funded project. This presentation was delivered at the Digital R&D in the Arts Annual Forum at Vinopolis on 3 July 2014. For more information, visit: http://www.nesta.org.uk/event/digital-rd-arts-annual-forum

1. A New Approach for Mobile Apps
for the Arts
Rob Greig, Chief Technology Officer, Royal Opera House
Supported by the Digital R&D Fund for the Arts - Nesta, Arts & Humanities Research Council and public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council
England

2. Context
Traffic YoY 2011/12 – 2012/13
50% increase in visits to site
Source – internet world stats
“
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By 2015 the internet will be 50
times bigger than it was in 2006
97% of consumers now use online media
when researching products and services in
their local area
1 trillion devices will be connected to the internet by 2015
Source – Gartner
“
”
“
”

3. Global opera and ballet audiences
Cinema and broadcast audiences
Younger audiences
Mobile audiences
Who
Extend website and product to foster further
relationships with opera and ballet audiences
globally – specifically those who don’t physically
come to Covent Garden.
Patrons
&Friends
(30k)
Occasional Ticket Buyers
/Cinema Audience
(400k)
People with little or no regular
contact with ROH
Regular Ticket Buyers
(100k)
Engage new audiences

4. What
Mobile application as a sustainable means of surfacing rich content online/offline
Platform to test methods of deepening engagement, increasing spend and
broadening reach
Research, disseminated and synthesized into an arts sector toolkit
Project Goals
Digital programme for cinema and broadcast audiences
Digital content that evolves over time
Compelling method for mobile audiences to engage with the ROH
Enhanced platform for buying tickets, digital content and making donations
Sustainable model for mobile app development in the arts sector

6. Native applications
Limited life
Limited integration
Why a Hybrid App?
Sustainability
Usability guidelines or trend in best
practices is for device/delivery-
specific, and therefore transitory, app
design

7. Our Approach
1. Competitive Audit
(King’s College)
2. Prototype
(POP)
3. Usability Testing
(King’s College)
4. Designs
(Royal Opera House)
5. Technical
Specification
for Responsive
Checkout
(POP)
6. Specification
for Responsive
Checkout
(POP)
7. Co-Development
(Royal Opera House & POP)
8. Post-Launch Analysis
(Royal Opera House)
Goal: Synthesis of usage analysis and usability heuristics for mobile apps
Methodology: Procedural research engaging with POP and ROH throughout the project
lifecycle
Outcomes: Citable, evidence-based guidelines for effective and sustainable application
development

8. Our Approach
Competitive Audit
Mobile websites
• Of 67 institutes surveyed, only 25% offer a mobile website: Rijkmusem’s (Amsterdam) &
Baltimore Arts Museum (US)
Native apps, not mobile web
• Majority run on Apple’s iOS platform: Tate and Victoria and Albert Museum
Mobile ticketing
• Very few organizations support it: ICA & the Natural History Museum, Museum of Contemporary
Arts in Sydney
Mobile donation
• Only a small minority of mobile websites facilitate mobile giving: Institute of Contemporary Arts
(London)

9. 7 scenarios
• Purchase a guide
• See new guide content
• Make donation
• Buy tickets
• Listen to radio broadcast
• Purchase guide for cinema
• Buy guide with promo code
Our Approach
Prototype in Axure

10. Our Approach
Design
Mobile first in responsive retrofit
Prototype using existing code
Best available
Payment

11. Results
• Dwell time up (Dwell gap halved to 52 seconds)
• 363 Guides sold in the test period –to date 1000 paid 1000 free
• More than half were new registrants
• Cinema audience giving low
• Number of cinema and broadcast patrons reached
• Ticket sales forecast to achieve £500K per month
• 34% growth in mobile
Post-Launch Analysis