Case Study · Education Media

Higher Education
Television Channel

Reimagining how St. Louis' leading education broadcaster connects lifelong learners to arts, culture, and on-demand content — in the age of streaming.

Visit HEC Media

620K

Subscribers reached every minute, over-the-air

620K+

Over-air subscribers

Education broadcaster in St. Louis

3×

Growth in on-demand engagement

100%

Mobile-first responsive delivery

The Client

St. Louis' Voice for Education & Culture

HEC Media is St. Louis' leading producer of education, arts, and cultural television programming. Broadcasting over-the-air to 620,000 subscribers every minute of every day, HEC Media is the region's trusted source for lifelong learning and cultural discovery.

Rooted in public service, HEC Media's mission extends beyond broadcast — reaching educators, students, and curious minds through hecmedia.org and an expanding library of on-demand content. From documentaries to local arts coverage, every program reflects a commitment to an informed, engaged community.

Education Broadcasting Arts & Culture St. Louis, MO Public Media Lifelong Learning

HEC Media · St. Louis

The Challenge

Re-designing with Legacy

The Higher Education Channel (HECTV) came to us with a clear but complex challenge: their existing website was built around a show-centric model that made it difficult for audiences to discover content by interest or genre.

In an era of streaming giants and algorithm-driven discovery, a show-list navigation no longer matched how audiences actually consumed educational content. Users needed to find stories — not just scheduled programs.

The redesign needed to improve searchability across the entire content library, enable personalized content experiences, and build a sustainable digital platform that could grow alongside HEC Media's expanding catalog.

"The goal was to shift from a show-based focus to a story and genre-based focus — so that any visitor, at any moment, could find content that spoke directly to them."

YT Advisors · Project Brief, HECTV Redesign

Discovery · Searchability · Reach

Our Approach

Audience-First. Mobile-First. Intelligence-First.

We studied how HEC Media's audience actually navigated educational media — and built a platform that gets out of their way, serving exactly the right content at exactly the right moment.

Mobile-First Design

Drawing from the playbooks of NPR, PBS, and Issuu, we built for the on-the-go learner — ensuring every video and article is as accessible from a phone as it is from a desktop.

Genre & Story Discovery

We reorganized the entire content architecture around genre, topic, and story — replacing rigid show schedules with flexible, interest-based navigation that mirrors how modern audiences browse streaming platforms.

Personalized Content Feed

We developed a vision for personalized content recommendations based on individual visitor preferences — creating a dynamic feed that serves each user a unique window into HEC Media's rich content library.

AI-Enhanced Search

Beyond keyword matching, we implemented intelligent search that understands context and intent — connecting visitors to relevant programming across HEC Media's decades of educational, arts, and cultural content.

Marketing & Lead Generation

Improved branding and strategic CTA placement expanded HEC Media's marketing reach and generated measurable growth in leads for their sales and sponsorship teams.

Accessible & Responsive

Built to WCAG accessibility standards, the responsive design ensures that lifelong learners of all abilities and on all devices have equal access to HEC Media's educational programming.

The Build

A Fresh, Familiar Media Experience

Inspired by the best in digital publishing — NPR, PBS, Issuu, RFT — we crafted a responsive media website that felt instantly familiar to HEC Media's audiences while pushing their digital presence forward.

Redesigned hecmedia.org — genre-based discovery, personalized feeds, mobile-optimized.

AI & Personalization Layer

Building the Foundation for Intelligent Content Delivery

As part of the redesign strategy, we architected a personalization layer that captures viewer preference signals — genre affinity, watch history, session behavior — to progressively tailor the content feed to each visitor. This foundation positions HEC Media to deploy AI-driven recommendations as their content catalog scales, ensuring that no program gets buried, and every learner finds content that resonates with them.

Outcomes

Expanding Reach, Deepening Engagement

The redesigned platform delivered measurable improvements across every key metric — from content discovery to audience retention. By putting the user's learning journey at the center of every design decision, we helped HEC Media serve its mission more effectively than ever.

The shift to story- and genre-based navigation reduced the friction between a curious visitor and the content they were looking for, while the improved marketing infrastructure created new revenue opportunities for HEC Media's sponsorship and sales teams.

Improved content discoverability

Genre & story-based navigation

Personalized content feed

Mobile-first responsive experience

Expanded marketing reach

Increased sales team leads

AI-ready personalization architecture

WordPress CMS Responsive Design UX Strategy Content Architecture SEO Analytics Lead Generation

Results · Impact · Growth

Ready to work together?

Let's build something that serves your audience.

From strategy and UX to AI-powered personalization and responsive build — we partner with education and media organizations to create digital experiences that matter.

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Higher EducationTelevision Channel