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A commercial reset for University World News
DW3 Media is retained as the commercial consultancy for Higher Education Web Publishing, the independent publisher of University World News (UWN). UWN is an open-access global higher education news platform with around 1.8 million annual unique visitors and approximately 3 million page views, supported by weekly newsletters sent to over 170,000 inboxes each week.
DW3 Media’s brief is to modernise and grow UWN’s commercial revenues while protecting editorial independence and the trust built with its senior academic readership. The consultancy relationship spans sales support, product development, data and analytics, and commercial governance.
Through DW3 Media, UWN is reshaping its commercial offering around branded content, audience insight and transparent, compliant advertising products tailored to higher education decision-makers.
DW3 Media’s Role & Commercial Vision:
DW3 Media acts as UWN’s contracted commercial development partner, responsible for:
Sales and partnership development:
Structuring and supporting advertising and partnership sales across UWN’s digital inventory and sponsored content portfolio.
Product and proposition design:
Translating UWN’s editorial strengths into clearly defined commercial products, from sponsored articles and video packages to thematic hubs and campaigns.
Data-led audience strategy:
Implementing analytics and reporting that give UWN and its partners a richer understanding of audience behaviour across web, newsletters and social platforms.
Commercial governance and compliance:
Updating privacy documentation, commercial terms and processes so that campaigns are delivered with transparency and in line with data protection and advertising standards.
Operational integration:
Strengthening collaboration between commercial, editorial, production and external agencies so campaign delivery aligns with UWN’s values and reader expectations.
The aim is a sustainable commercial framework that reflects UWN’s values on academic freedom, equity and internationalisation while creating clear value for advertisers.
What we have delivered
Although the engagement is ongoing, DW3 Media has already delivered a significant programme of work for UWN’s commercial transformation.
New media pack and proposal suite:
• Designed a comprehensive 2025 media pack that positions UWN’s audience, products and values for advertisers.
• Produced a modular branded-content proposal deck that can be tailored by sector, region and product mix.
Branded content methodology and products:
• Defined a clear tiered structure for partnership articles, sponsored content and paid client material, aligned with editorial standards.
• Introduced new packages including remote and on-location video interviews, webinars and multi-article campaigns with guaranteed promotion metrics.
Analytics and reporting upgrade:
• Implemented new web and campaign analytics platforms to give a detailed view of audience reach, engagement and geography.
• Built standardised post-campaign reporting templates that combine site, newsletter and social data and highlight learning for future activity.
Social and channel visibility:
• Introduced consistent tracking and reporting across LinkedIn, X and Facebook activity, linking social performance to campaign objectives.
New products and solutions:
• Developed and launched refreshed content marketing and digital advertising products, including premium homepage visibility, SDG-aligned hubs and thematic special reports.
Agency ecosystem:
• Brought in a specialist digital media agency to manage paid social and programmatic promotion of UWN campaigns.
• Introduced a video production partner to expand UWN’s ability to deliver high-quality interview and campaign films.
Sales infrastructure and CRM:
• Implemented a central CRM system to consolidate pipelines, track opportunities and support revenue forecasting.
• Established structured contact and pipeline processes to support both direct and agency-led sales.
Privacy, terms and compliance:
• Updated privacy and commercial documentation to reflect current data-protection requirements and UWN’s approach to sponsored and branded content.
• Revised commercial terms and conditions to clarify deliverables, timelines and responsibilities for advertisers and partners.
Revenue impact:
• Supported the closure of new deals across branded content, display and sponsorship, contributing to incremental revenue growth during the initial consultancy period.
• Introduced a clearer link between product packaging, pricing and delivery costs to protect margin.
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UWN’s new branded-content framework has been designed to respect clear boundaries between independent journalism and paid activity.
Through DW3 Media, UWN now offers:
Partnership articles that remain editorially independent with transparent acknowledgement of supporter involvement.
Sponsored content that is shaped with UWN editors to ensure relevance to the higher education community.
Paid client content, supplied by partners, formatted in UWN’s style with clear labelling and placement policies.
Each format sits within a structured set of guidelines so that advertisers can work with UWN confidently and readers understand how content is funded.
With the upgraded analytics stack and reporting framework, UWN campaigns now run with:
- Defined KPIs for impressions, clicks, video plays or lead actions.
- Integrated tracking across site, newsletters and social channels.
- Post-campaign reports that bring together traffic, engagement and audience breakdowns, with recommendations for optimisation.
This gives advertisers transparency over delivery and supports UWN’s internal decision-making on future product development.
Passendo gives advertisers access to
DW3 Media’s work with UWN is building an integrated commercial platform that connects:
- A clear product portfolio
- A unified CRM and sales process
- A renewed media pack and proposal toolkit
- Robust analytics and reporting
- A network of specialist creative and media partners
The result is a more coherent commercial story for a global higher education audience, supported by infrastructure that can scale as UWN’s readership and partner base continue to grow.