2.4M monthly uniques. 38K paying subscribers. WordPress and 27 plugins underneath. Page speed sat at 4.1s LCP, so Google Discover quietly stopped sending traffic. The paywall was JS-only and dev tools bypassed it in four seconds. The ad stack broke on Safari. Editors waited 40 minutes for a preview.
Industry Media & publishing development · headless CMS · paywall · ad ops · UK
Media & publishing development for the paywall, the ad ops,. and the desk that ships daily.
Headless CMS on Sanity, Contentful, or Strapi, metered paywall and subscription, Prebid + Google Ad Manager ad ops, and the Core Web Vitals you need to keep Google Discover open. Three media builds shipped since 2019, every one Discover-ready on launch.
24hreply, from a senior
200+projects shipped since 2019
Senioronly, on the spine
Why UK publishers sign
Google ranks your speed. Your readers pay for your work. We build for both at once.
Media & publishing software development isn’t a theme you drop on WordPress. It’s a headless CMS, a server-side paywall, and a green Core Web Vitals score, decided in week one or paid for in lost Discover traffic.
“Discover traffic came back inside a fortnight. The paywall stopped leaking the day we launched.”
001
3+
UK media & publishing platforms shipped to production since 2019.
002
0
Paywall bypasses or reader-data leaks in production.
003
<1.5s
Median LCP on every publishing build, Discover-ready.
The publisher this page is for4.1s LCP · 7.2% churn · 1.4s · 4.1%
Eleanor edits a UK title. The writing was sharp. The platform was sinking it.
Churn ran at 7.2% a month and nobody knew who was about to leave until they’d already gone. Every fix on the old stack bought a week and broke something else. The board wanted growth. The numbers were going the other way, and the writing wasn’t the problem.
We rebuilt it in twelve weeks on headless Sanity + Next.js. LCP dropped to 1.4s. The paywall moved server-side. Prebid + GAM got rebuilt. Discover traffic returned 3×. A churn engine flagged at-risk readers, and churn fell to 4.1%. This page is for the publisher who’d rather build for the reader and the algorithm on day one.
You build for the reader.
We build for the reader and the algorithm.
Six decisions sit underneath every media & publishing build we ship. Get them right in week one and the paywall holds, the ads pay, and Discover keeps the door open. Open any row.
Headless Next.js, edge cache, image optimisation, LCP under 1.5s. Discover and search reward it, and your readers feel it on the first tap.
Server-side enforcement. The article body never reaches the browser if the request isn’t authorised. Bypass becomes architecturally impossible, not a JS trick.
Prebid header bidding, Google Ad Manager, viewability tracking, adblock-aware fallback. First-party data so Safari ITP doesn’t empty your revenue.
Newsletter on your domain, not someone else’s. A CDP for behaviour-based segments. A churn engine that flags at-risk readers 30 days out.
Sanity, Contentful, or Strapi with editorial workflow, multi-byline, embargo, scheduled publish, and a live preview round-trip in eight seconds.
Sourcepoint, OneTrust, or Didomi wired to TCF v2.2 with a real deny. The consent string passes to GAM and Prebid, with the vendor list managed. ICO-defendable.
The publishing pain. The architectural answer.
Every publisher who emails us is fighting one of these eight things. Each one bleeds traffic or revenue while it sits unfixed. Each one is a single architectural decision made on day one of our build.
- 01
“Our LCP was 4.1s. Google Discover stopped serving us and traffic dropped 38%.”
Headless + edge cache + image optimisation. Headless Next.js on Vercel or Cloudflare edge. LCP under 1.5s. ISR for freshness. Image optimisation built in. Discover traffic typically returns within two to three weeks.
- 02
“Our paywall was JS. Dev tools bypassed it in four seconds and our best work was free.”
Server-side paywall enforcement. JS only handles the UX. The article body never reaches the browser if the request is unauthorised. Bypass becomes architecturally impossible, not a cat-and-mouse game.
- 03
“Subscribers left and we didn’t know who was at risk until the cancellation landed.”
Churn prediction + win-back. A churn model reads reading behaviour. At-risk readers are flagged 30 days out and a win-back flow fires. Churn typically drops 30 to 40%.
- 04
“Safari ITP killed our cookies and ad revenue dropped 22% overnight.”
First-party data + server-side ads. A first-party data layer with server-side ad calls where possible. ITP-safe targeting. Revenue typically recovers within four to 6 weeks.
- 05
“Editors waited 40 minutes for a preview. Productivity on the desk was dead.”
Headless CMS with live preview. Sanity or Contentful with an eight-second preview round-trip. Editors see the change as they make it. Editorial productivity comes back the same week.
- 06
“Our adblock rate hit 32%. Revenue dropped and we had no fallback.”
Adblock-aware fallback + subscription nudge. Adblock detection with a subscription nudge and acceptable-ads handling. Subscription conversion on blocked sessions typically lifts 1.5 to 2×.
- 07
“We were on Substack. We couldn’t monetise properly or move our subscribers.”
Newsletter on your domain + CDP. A newsletter shipped on your domain with Stripe billing and a CDP for segmentation. The subscriber data is yours. Substack-grade UX without the lock-in.
- 08
“We got an ICO complaint. TCF v2.2 wasn’t configured and the banner had no real deny.”
TCF v2.2 CMP wired correctly. Sourcepoint, OneTrust, or Didomi wired to TCF v2.2 with a real deny. The consent string passes to GAM and Prebid. Vendor list managed. ICO-defendable.
What a headless rebuild actually moves
Real figures from UK publishing builds we shipped. Speed, the paywall, the ad stack, and churn, measured after launch.
1.4s
LCP after the headless
Discover traffic came back inside a fortnight, and the paywall stopped leaking the day we launched. Twelve weeks, cut over behind a flag with no downtime.
Three tiers, one stack that keeps Discover open.
Three UK publishing platforms have stress-tested these picks. Tier 1 runs every build. Tier 2 is what we reach for when the brief needs it. Tier 3 scales it to national-title traffic.
T1
What every publishing build runs on
MERN + headlessMongoDBPostgreSQLNode.js + ExpressReact + Next.jsTypeScriptSanity / ContentfulStripe BillingPrebid + GAMSourcepoint / DidomiAlgolia / TypesenseResendMixpanel
T2
When your publishing brief calls for it
reach when neededStrapi (self-hosted)Python (ML churn)OneTrustFlutterGraphQLSegment CDP
T3
The infrastructure that scales it
AWS + edgeAWSVercel EdgeCloudFront / CloudflareAWS RDS / AuroraAWS LambdaS3 + CloudFrontRedisApache KafkaTerraformDatadog + SentryCloudflare WAFMicroservices
Recent client · UK lifestyle publisher · 2024
4.1s LCP and WordPress to
4.1s LCP and WordPress to
a headless rebuild, Discover traffic back 3×
Eleanor’s title, in real numbers. We left WordPress for headless Sanity + Next.js, moved the paywall server-side, rebuilt Prebid + GAM, wired Stripe Billing and a churn engine, and shipped a TCF v2.2 CMP. Twelve-week sprint, cut over behind a flag with no downtime.
The rebuild
12wk
Headless rebuild shipped
1.4s
LCP, down from 4.1s
The outcome
3×
Discover traffic recovered
4.1%
Churn, down from 7.2%
Track record
3
Media platforms since 2019
100%
TCF v2.2 CMP audits cleared
SURFACES
Eight publishing surfaces, live in production
What lives on the editorial spine. Each one is edge-cached, audit-aware, and built so your editors ship daily without waiting on a 40-minute preview.
SURFACE(01)
Headless CMS + frontend
Sanity, Contentful, or Strapi on an edge-cached Next.js frontend. Editorial workflow, multi-byline, embargo, scheduled publish, and live preview in eight seconds. ISR for freshness, Core Web Vitals green.
Sanity / ContentfulNext.js edgeLive previewCore Web Vitals
Headless CMS + frontend
SURFACE(02)
Paywall + metered access
Server-side enforced. Metered, freemium, and premium tiers. Gift articles and friend referral. The article body never ships to the browser unauthorised, so a dev-tools bypass is architecturally impossible.
Server-sideMetered accessGift articlesZero bypass
Paywall + metered access
SURFACE(03)
Subscription + churn engine
Stripe Billing with churn prediction on reading behaviour. At-risk readers flagged 30 days out, with win-back flows and dunning recovery. Churn typically drops 30 to 40%.
Stripe BillingChurn predictionWin-back flowsDunning
Subscription + churn engine
SURFACE(04)
Ad ops (Prebid + GAM)
Prebid header bidding, Google Ad Manager, viewability tracking, and adblock-aware fallback. Native ad units that don’t wreck your speed, and a first-party data layer so Safari ITP doesn’t empty your revenue.
PrebidGoogle Ad ManagerViewabilityFirst-party data
Ad ops (Prebid + GAM)
SURFACE(05)
Newsletter, CDP, and search
A newsletter on your domain via Resend, billed through Stripe, with a CDP for behaviour-based segmentation. Algolia or Typesense search with related articles and ML recommendations that keep readers on the next story.
ResendCDPAlgolia / TypesenseRecommendations
Newsletter, CDP, and search
What publishers actually ask before signing
Pain-first, soft-second. The questions every editor and publisher asks before they trust a studio with their traffic and their subscribers.
Sanity for the fastest editor experience and GROQ flexibility. Contentful for enterprise governance and locale management. Strapi self-hosted when data residency or cost is the deciding factor. As a headless CMS development agency we match the pick to your desk, not the other way round.
Server-side enforcement. The article body never reaches the browser if the request is unauthorised. JS only handles the UX. Our paywall development services make a dev-tools bypass architecturally impossible, not a setting someone toggles off. Zero bypasses across three media platforms in production.
Yes. Headless Next.js, edge cache, image optimisation, ISR for freshness. LCP under 1.5s is achievable on most stories. Discover traffic typically recovers within two to three weeks of launch. We hold a median LCP under 1.5s across every publishing build we’ve shipped.
Sourcepoint, OneTrust, or Didomi wired to TCF v2.2. A real deny option, not a dark pattern. The consent string passes to GAM and Prebid. Vendor list managed. ICO-defendable and IAB-compliant. We’ve cleared 100% of the TCF v2.2 CMP audits on our publishing builds.
Yes. A newsletter on your domain via Resend and Stripe Billing. Subscriber data exported from Substack where it’s allowed, and the lifecycle redesigned around your brand. Most clients hold over 85% of paying subscribers through the move, and the data is yours from then on.
Three things make this hard to fake. The 30-day walk-away clause goes both ways and refunds the unused portion. Payments are milestoned 25/25/25/25, so you never pay more than 25% ahead of working software. And we’ve been shipping since 2019, UK VAT registered, listed on Companies House. You can check us before you sign.
Yes, with 14 days’ notice. Engineers move to other projects, your repo stays where it is, your spend pauses. Resume with 14 days’ notice and we pick up at the same sprint board, same engineers. No cancellation fee, no restart fee. We’ve done this six times in 2025.
That’s the core of publisher website development done our way. We map every URL, keep redirects 1:1, preserve structured data, and cut over behind a flag one section at a time. Discover and search read the faster headless site and traffic typically climbs rather than dips. Eleanor’s rebuild above came back 3× on Discover.
In context
The surface you hand over.
media publishing development, in context — the dashboards, flows and components your team actually ships, reviews and maintains.
One paragraph. That’s it.
Tell us your traffic, your subscriber count, and the one thing hurting most: Discover, the paywall, the ad stack, or churn. Mohit reads every first email and replies inside 24 hours: a clear yes, a clear no, or the one question that decides it.
What happens after the email lands
- < 24h
A personal reply.
Yes, no, or the deciding question. Straight to your inbox, not a team thread.
- Week 1
Audit week begins.
We review your CWV, paywall, and ad stack, write the trade-offs, hand you a signed scope.
- Week 14
Discover-ready publishing.
Headless CMS, a paywall that holds, ad ops that pay, and the green CWV score Google rewards.