Sourcetop rocks

Revolver Magazine

Full site overhaul, rebranding, and ad network implementation for national rock music magazine

The Challenge

When this leading heavy metal magazine was acquired by another media company, the new owners required a complete overhaul of the site, to reflect the magazine’s new branding. The existing site needed not only a complete update, but also an upgrade to a more robust content management platform, and a more powerful and integrated backend system.

Sourcetop’s Solution

We moved the client’s site from an outdated content management system (CMS) onto Drupal, a content management platform ideally suited to handling complex publishing demands. The existing site included a significant number of outdated, poorly implemented features – so we scrapped it and started from scratch, designing for maximum efficiency and agility.

The new site is fully responsive across desktop, mobile and tablet screens, and features live-updated news content from Apple News, as well as streaming video content in JWPlayer. We built a powerful custom version of Drupal’s widget builder, a flexible interface that enables Revolver’s admins to arrange text, images, videos and other page elements from an easy drag-and-drop interface.

We also implemented advertising using the DFP partner network, enabling Revolver to solicit ads from a wider range of partners, and display them dynamically across selected pages of the site.

The Results

Revolver’s rebranded site responds far more efficiently than before, driving increased traffic and stronger engagement. The live news and streaming video features are increasing time spent on site, while the enhanced DFP ad partner network has led to a significant increase in ad revenue.

  • The new website has fully responsive mobile design.
  • Editors can efficiently build new pages, populate them with content, and schedule them to be published at a date and time of their choosing.
  • The website redesign was delivered on time and under budget.
  • The enhanced DFP ad partner network has led to a significant increase in ad revenue.
  • Pageviews have increased by 260 percent year-over-year.
  • Users have increased by 210 percent year-over-year.
  • The live news and streaming video features have increased time on page by 28 percent year-over-year.
  • 7-day active users have risen by 296 percent year-over-year.
Technology
Pantheon
Emma
Apple News
Google Ad Manager
JW Player
ShareThis
Design
Revolver