Case Study : Arena media’s high-pressure move to a new content management systemé
See how Arena media navigated a cms migration. Learn tips for choosing and implementing the right content management system for your needs.
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Leaving a deprecated CMS behind under extreme pressure
Arena Media found itself in a situation that no publisher wants to face: its legacy CMS, Cosmos, had been officially deprecated, and the clock was ticking. In less than six months, the system powering authentication, subscriptions, and the publishing workflow for eight news sites would no longer be usable.
Despite six months of work with internal teams and a partner integrator, the migration had not advanced. Decisions were missing, data was incomplete, and key technical elements remained undefined. The risk was simple and brutal: if nothing changed, the organisation would lose its ability to publish, operate subscriptions, and process payments.
It was at this moment that Arc XP contacted code.store to take over the project—an emergency intervention to keep eight publications online and guide Arena’s transition to a modern content management system capable of replacing Cosmos.
Contexte
Cosmos had proven reliable and effective for many years, but as it was no longer actively maintained, it could no longer meet the requirements of a modern, evolving digital publishing environment.
Over time, the CMS had evolved to support publishing, authentication, subscriptions, and payments in a tightly coupled way, without standardised migration mechanisms for identity or subscription data. This created a technically demanding transition context.
Arena’s subscription catalogue, shaped organically over years of growth, reflected a wide range of reader needs and commercial initiatives. Preparing this catalogue for migration required consolidation and clarification to align it with a modern CMS model.
In parallel, Arena relied on South African payment gateways that were essential to its operations but not natively supported by the target platform, making custom integrations a necessary part of the migration.
Combined with a compressed timeline, these factors meant that key architectural decisions had to be taken quickly and pragmatically to establish a viable migration path.
This context called for more than a technology replacement. It required strategic clarity, structured execution, and experienced leadership to migrate eight active publications while ensuring uninterrupted access for readers and subscribers throughout the transition.
Solution
The goal of the migration was straightforward but demanding: move all eight publications to a new CMS, ensure a full identity and subscription migration, integrate payment systems not supported by the platform, and normalise more than a thousand legacy subscription variations.
Rather than attempting to fix what existed, code.store focused on establishing a stable path forward. The team quickly validated the most complex use cases through a proof of concept, then built an architecture around Arc XP that could deliver rapidly. Low-code components were used where appropriate to accelerate timelines, and a temporary authentication bridge ensured that Cosmos and Arc could coexist long enough for the migration to complete.
The project embraced principles of MACH architecture microservices, API-first, cloud-native, headless to guarantee that the new environment would remain reliable and scalable long after Cosmos disappeared.
Why ArcXP — A CMS built for publishing at scale
Arena needed a CMS that could support fast delivery while offering a stable foundation for the future. Arc XP provided exactly that: a publishing and delivery platform capable of managing the eight sites, handling subscriptions, and integrating with Arena’s data ecosystem.
As Arc XP's Gold Partner, code.store was brought in to leverage their specialised expertise in complex CMS migrations and their proven track record in delivering Arc XP implementations under tight deadlines. The partnership combined Arc XP's robust publishing platform with code.store's comprehensive project management capabilities and deep technical knowledge of the Arc ecosystem, enabling a streamlined approach that could meet Arena's urgent timeline requirements while ensuring a successful transition to their new content management system.
The combination of Arc XP’s infrastructure and code.store’s leadership made it possible to restart and complete a migration that had been blocked for months.
The code.store approach — Delivering under extreme pressure
When code.store took over the project at the end of September, the timeline was already compressed. The team reorganised the entire effort around a clear and executable plan.
The front-end was rebuilt using Arc’s Page Builder for all eight sites, ensuring a consistent and high-performance user experience. On the back-end, Arc XP became the central system for publishing and subscription management, supported by a custom authentication bridge that kept Cosmos operational during the transition.
Two South African payment providers were integrated, even though they were not natively supported by the platform. Meanwhile, Arena’s subscription and pricing models more than a thousand variations were normalised and migrated under intense time pressure.
Each step was designed to protect Arena’s ability to publish without interruption while progressively shifting operations to the new content management system.
Implementation & Results — Eight sites live in four weeks
The critical challenges were systematically overcome through the emergency intervention. Eight sites were launched in just four weeks. Authentication and payment systems were delivered in parallel to ensure continuity.
Print subscriptions was added on top of the initial scope, enabling users to subscribe to the paper editions alongside digital offerings.
Most importantly, Arena Media never went offline. Publications remained accessible, subscriptions remained functional, and the full retirement of Cosmos happened before the deadline.
The migration delivered a clean subscription catalogue, a fully operational set of payment flows, and a complete user migration on top of a CMS platform extended specifically for Arena’s needs.
The entire project unfolded over two intense months with 19 sprints, guided by a dedicated PM/PO team who structured, executed, and stabilised the transition.
FAQ
What is a CMS?
A CMS is the system that enables organisations to create, publish, and manage digital content. In this case, Arc XP became Arena’s new CMS.
What is a content management system used for in this migration?
It replaced Cosmos to handle publishing, subscriptions, authentication, and payment integrations.
What is CMS software in the context of Arena Media?
It refers to the software platform—Arc XP—that now supports Arena’s eight publications.
What is a CMS platform?
A CMS platform provides the publishing, subscription, and data structures required to operate digital media properties.
Which CMS was used for Arena Media?
Arena migrated from Cosmos to Arc XP.
