City firm is just the ticket for revellers

Skiddle was established in 2001 by Richard Dyer and Ben Sebborn.

The self-service ticketing operation grew considerably in 2013, attracting 10 million unique visitors and covering hundreds of thousands of events.

It also raised more than £20,000 for charity, while increasing the number of employees at the company’s Preston headquarters to 18.

With thousands of New Year’s Eve events listed throughout the UK, Skiddle.com was once again the UK’s largest NYE guide, seeing year-on-year visitor growth rates of around 50 per cent and resulting in 2.5 million people in the UK using Skiddle to plan their New Year’s Eve.

Skiddle director Richard Dyer said: “2013 was an amazing year for us. We’ve gone from strength to strength and it’s always good to end the year on such a positive note.

“In 2013 we built and strengthened some great relationships and off the back of these expect exciting developments to come in 2014. It’s going to be another exciting year for the company.”

Co-founder and director Ben Sebborn said: “Year after year we’ve had great successes with each year filled with milestones.

“We grew massively in 2013, providing listings and ticketing solutions to well over 35,000 event promoters. Additionally, we grew our affiliate network to include websites such as Mixmag and Debenhams Box Office.

“At the same time we rebuilt Skiddle.com from the ground up, providing a better mobile and

tablet experience, ensuring we maximise usability for visitors and conversion rates for promoters.”

Skiddle reported a growth in the number of people buying New Year’s Eve tickets more than a week in advance.

Head of Marketing Simon Dalley said: “Skiddle has always been strong around New Year’s Eve, it’s a key time for year for us, with buying behaviour remaining pretty constant over the last few years.

“Normally, we’d expect around 70 per cent of NYE ticket sales to be made from Boxing Day onwards, with 40 per cent coming in the three days from December 29.

“While this remained our peak period we saw a growth in the numbers who bought early, with a number of events selling out well in advance of the festive period.

“This year our core message was: ‘buy in advance to take advantage of the discounted tickets and to avoid queuing on the night’.

“It seems to have hit the spot,” added Simon.