Migrating 250,000+ media artifacts and 25 years of content with zero downtime.
Rolling Stone, part of Penske Media Corporation (PMC), is one of the most recognized music and culture publications in the world. This WordPress VIP migration moved 25 years of content and a readership spanning multiple generations onto a modern platform, reinforcing Rolling Stone’s place as a cornerstone of PMC’s portfolio of over 20 influential media brands.multiple generations and a strong digital presence, Rolling Stone is a cornerstone in PMC’s portfolio, which includes over 20 influential media brands.
The legacy CMS limited editorial speed, made content updates cumbersome, and created inefficiencies at the portfolio level. With a large archive of historical content and the need to meet high audience expectations, Rolling Stone required a modern publishing platform capable of handling massive content migrations while improving editorial workflows. PMC sought a solution that would unify publishing tools, preserve technical SEO, and introduce new, revenue-focused features, all without disrupting ongoing content production.
A seamless WordPress VIP migration
XWP collaborated with PMC to migrate more than 250,000 media artifacts and 25+ years of content from Rolling Stone’s legacy CMS to WordPress VIP, using a highly optimized, multi-stage import routine hosted on secure cloud services. Technical SEO was preserved with precise URL redirects, and new editorial features were introduced, including custom listicle functionality that boosted engagement and monetization. Shared components were developed to be reusable across PMC’s brand portfolio, reducing future development costs. With zero seconds of downtime and an average import rate of ~800 data entries per second, the migration empowered Rolling Stone’s editorial team to work faster, publish more flexibly, and deliver richer reader experiences.
Key Stats
250K+
Media artifacts migrated
25+
Years of content imported
~800
Data entries per second during migration
0
Seconds of downtime
“One of our smoothest and most successful launches to date. Everyone who reviewed the site – both before and after launch – commented on the exceptional quality. This was down to an incredible effort led by you all, with a focus and dedication that was a joy to be involved in.”
NICOLA CANTTON, FORMER ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT, PENSKE
To learn how Rolling Stone modernized its publishing platform with XWP and WordPress VIP, read the full case study.
