How Private Media unified three publications on WordPress VIP and halved development costs

Challenge

Private Media, one of Australia’s most respected digital publishers, is known for its independent journalism across multiple sectors. Its portfolio includes Crikey for fearless political commentary, The Mandarin for public sector leadership, and SmartCompany for SME and startup coverage. Each of the three publications were already hosted on WordPress VIP, but they operated using distinct codebases, templates, and plugins tailored to their specific newsroom requirements over several years.

However, this would not scale with Private Media’s growth plans, where every shared improvement meant three separate builds and each acquisition would add another stack to maintain. Private Media wanted one content management approach across its brands, with the efficiency of shared infrastructure and no loss of each masthead’s editorial tone, design, or reader experience. To achieve these objectives, they partnered with rtCamp.

The Solution: From three codebases to one on WordPress VIP Multisite

The three sites were moved off their separate WordPress VIP setups onto a single Multisite, consolidating three codebases into one shared foundation and design system. SmartCompany was the hardest piece: it sat on its own VIP multisite instance, so it was decoupled into a standalone site before folding it into the new network. 

The user data was the delicate part of the merge, since the same author name could exist across two brands as two different people. Custom scripts was leveraged for this, resolving those overlapping identities and duplicate accounts so every contribution kept the right byline, with content, metadata, and permissions carried over intact.

Self-serve editing, kept consistent at scale

A modular, multisite-compatible theme lets each brand keep its character while drawing on the shared framework. In the block editor, editors get drag-and-drop blocks, a reusable pattern library, and an infinite-scroll reading experience, which takes routine layout changes off the developers’ plate. 

A Documentation Kit subsite was established to maintain network-wide consistency. This subsite serves as a comprehensive catalog of every style guideline, typography rule, component, and approved block, providing a centralized reference for editors, developers, and QA teams.

Consolidating and migrating the reader-facing technology stack

Rather than rebuilding the existing third-party ecosystem, the stack was consolidated and standardized across the network, ensuring continuity while reducing operational complexity.

• Lytics for content recommendations
• Algolia for fast, typo-tolerant search 
• Zephr for paywalls and subscriptions across the publications, and 
• Ad Inserter Pro for audience-specific ad placement. 

In a year-on-year comparison, one publication recorded a 128% increase in total clicks and a 169% increase in total impressions. The platform’s scalability was further validated in 2025 when Private Media integrated its Pinstripe Media acquisition into the multisite network without requiring a separate rebuild.

Key Stats

Quote

“rtCamp’s thoughtful and low-disruption approach to the migration made the process smooth and seamless. This partnership has laid the groundwork for a powerful platform that can support advanced features and expansion—the proof being our recent acquisition of Pinstripe Media, adding 4 additional media properties to our portfolio. rtCamp remains a reliable partner as our platform continues to grow and evolve.”

– Kevin Cooper, Chief Growth Officer, Private Media