Arts Council England (ACE) has encouraged arts organisations to increase their digital and online services in order to attract a new generation of visitors to their facilities.

A study by ACE showed that digital technology is used by the public primarily as a research tool, allowing people to explore artist and arts events, rather than an alternative to visit and view real art.

The majority of the respondents to the ACE study felt that digital and online exhibitions of art cannot replace the atmosphere and immediacy of the live experience, but are a useful tool when providing context for a live experience.

The ACE report is part of the first phase of the council's three-year programme to help the arts benefit from digital opportunities.

According to the research, almost all regularly funded art organisations (99 per cent) have some kind of online presence, while little more than half (56 per cent) maintain a profile on at least one social network for marketing purposes.

In its conclusion, the report adds that there is a "clear opportunity for arts organisations to develop their digital offer to include content that not only signposts web users to arts events but also gives them an informative experience in its own right".