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DW has roughly 4,000 partners worldwide who include DW content in their TV and radio lineups, as well as online. Why is it important for DW to work with partners? Reaching people all over the world with information that matters to them is key for DW. That’s why it’s an ongoing challenge to find new ways and partners to achieve this. DW’s heterogeneous partner network is made up of more than 4,000 online, social media, audio, radio and TV partners. It is as diverse as our target groups. Our partners are also closer to the target audience than we could ever be. They know and understand the interests, needs and expectations of the users, viewers and listeners. They share valuable insights with us and help us customize our content in 32 langua ges — to make it as relevant as possible. Moreover, the platforms and channels we partner with are often very well known in the target regions. It’s like a symbiotic relationship, where we benefit from their reach and popularity and they benefit from our unique, quality content. The numbers speak for themselves: More than three quarters of our reach can be traced back to our partners. The effective and sustainable cooperation with our partners is therefore the key to DW’s success.
The meaning of true partnership DW’s Managing Director of Distribution, Marketing and Technology Guido Baumhauer sees close and trusting partnerships as the key to DW’s significantly growing user reach. Here’s why. Interview conducted by Ivana Drmić, DW editor
32 Weltzeit 2 | 2021
DW’s profile topics include freedom and human rights, democracy and the rule of law, but also the environment and social justice. How does DW deal with partners in states where these rights are not always guaranteed? In certain target regions, some partners are neither friend nor enemy. We might label some as “frenemies”. However, mutual respect is the essential basis for all our partnerships. We must always find a balance between reaching people in a certain country without giving up our values. It is not as easy and obvious as it seems: Despite the simplistic views shared by some “media experts,” the giant tech companies GAFAM (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft) are not always automatically “evil;” it varies from
