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    UCAS Media service

    Want to engage with students planning their gap year?

    Connect with a verified audience of gap year students through UCAS

    Two gap year students with backpacks and travel gear smiling on a train platform, representing UK 18-year-olds preparing for travel, volunteering, or career experiences. Ideal visual for brands targeting students during their year out through campaigns in education, travel, and youth marketing sectors.

    Your brand, their gap year

    In 2025, nearly 37,000* students chose to take a year out before going to university, by deferring their place through UCAS.

    When you partner with us, your brand can connect with a verified audience of gap year students through several multi-channel marketing opportunities. The following packages offer targeted and proven tactics to showcase your brand, product and services, designed specifically to engage students who are in gap year planning mode.

    Each campaign is tailored to your objectives using UCAS’ high-traffic channels, and our dedicated team can discuss additional support as required. For every client, we offer advice on timings based on our expert insight into the student mindset, application cycle and at what point they defer.

    *UCAS End of cycle applicants and accepted applicants 2025 data
    Contact us 

    1M+

    UCAS supports 1+ million young people every year, including thousands actively exploring gap year options

    18K

    Applicants who are considering a gap year, opted in to hear from brands

    3.1% increase in applications

    By the 2026 January Equal Consideration Date, 619,360 applications had been submitted, up 3.1% year on year.

    12.25%

    CTR on the UCAS Gap Years page

    How you can partner with UCAS to reach gap year students

    Choose from one of our three package deals to schedule standalone, multi-channel activity or select our Premium Sponsored Content package to leverage the 30 million unique visits to UCAS’ trusted editorial spaces online each year.

    Package 1 – Navigator

    Targeted emails using UCAS’ verified first-party data of opted in gap year students. Reach 6,000 deferred applicants at the pivotal moment with key messages and discounts, and direct traffic to your website.

    In this package:

    • Email

    Package 2 – Explorer

    Combine targeted emails as in the Explorer package with a 4-week paid media channel campaign to our full deferred applicant audience, plus relevant web data from Meta, Snapchat, YouTube, TikTok or Google.

    In this package:

    • Email
    • Paid media

    Package 3 – Voyager

    A complete campaign including emails, advertising and paid media. Your emails will be delivered directly to UCAS’ verified, first-party data of all 18,000 deferred applicants in the UK. We can deliver 140,000 impressions of your content on the UCAS.com homepage OR select six months featured content on our gap year page.

    In this package:

    • Email
    • Paid media
    • Display

    Gap Year Premium Sponsored Content Package

    Sponsored content on ucas.com gives your brand a powerful opportunity to reach the growing audience of 1.5 million students UCAS supports each year, as they plan their next steps and make big decisions about their future. Appear in trusted, high-traffic editorial spaces where students and parents seek guidance – building awareness, relevance, and connection ahead of the student marketing cycle.

    Your sponsored content could cover topics such as tips and advice for travelling, how to research and plan a gap year, top lists of products or services students might need, or guidance on budgeting.

    Talk to us about your gap year sponsored content. 

    Gap year student at station looking on mobile phone

    Get in touch

    Partner with UCAS to get your brand noticed by students who are actively in gap year planning mode. Build your brand’s credibility and form long lasting connections with content that resonates.

    Please fill out the form below to talk to one of our experienced advisers today.

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