Software development for media companies and publishers
We build the websites, newsroom tools, apps and video platforms that publishers run on, designed for breaking-news traffic, search visibility and small editorial teams.
ZedBlu provides software development for media companies that need their journalism to load fast, rank well and reach readers on every screen. We work with news publishers, magazines, broadcasters, digital-first newsrooms and video creators, building the newsroom software and reader products that sit between an editor's draft and a reader's phone.
This is work we do every day, not theory. We built and run the digital platform behind The Hawk, an English news brand at thehawk.in, and Dainik Hawk, a Hindi news brand at dainikhawk.com. A single backend powers a Next.js website served from Cloudflare's global edge, a mobile-first newsroom CMS, a digital ePaper, and Android and iOS apps.
Our media software development ranges from complete platforms to single upgrades, such as a faster front end for an existing CMS, AI-assisted metadata or a subscription paywall. We scope the work with your editors and product leads, demo progress every week, and hand over code that you fully own.
What slows teams down
Traffic spikes on breaking news
A big story can multiply visitors within minutes, and that is exactly when underpowered servers time out. Readers who meet a spinner go back to search results and choose another outlet, taking the ad impressions and the return visit with them.
Search and Discover visibility
Google News and Discover favor pages that load quickly and carry clean structured data and accurate metadata. Writing SEO headlines, tags and meta descriptions by hand for every agency story does not scale for a small desk publishing around the clock.
Too many disconnected tools
Many publishers run the website, apps, ePaper and video library on separate systems. Editors paste the same story into several places, corrections miss one of them, and nobody has a single view of what is live where.
Revenue without ruining the read
Display ads, subscriptions, sponsored content and newsletters all compete for space on the page. Added carelessly, they bring layout shifts, heavy scripts and pop-ups that slow the site, hurting reader loyalty and search performance at the same time.
Software that fits how you work
Fast news websites on the edge
Next.js news websites cached on Cloudflare's global network, with article structured data, news sitemaps, optimized images and clean URLs built in, so pages stay quick even when a story spreads across social media and search.
Mobile-first newsroom CMS
A custom CMS for publishers that your desk can run from a phone: drafting, photo uploads, scheduling, live updates, breaking-news tickers, and roles and approval steps for reporters, editors and contributors filing from the field.
Agency feeds with AI-assisted SEO
Stories from news-agency feeds are imported automatically, and AI generates SEO headlines, tags and meta descriptions for each one. You decide which sections publish straight away and which wait for an editor, so editorial judgment stays human.
Android and iOS news apps
Our news app development uses Flutter or React Native to deliver apps that read from the same backend as your website, with push alerts for breaking stories, offline reading, bookmarks, dark mode and ad placements.
Digital ePaper and archives
Digital ePaper software that reproduces your print edition page by page, with clickable stories, date-wise archives and shareable clippings, managed from the same admin panel as the website instead of a separate vendor tool.
Video, OTT and paid content
When video or paid content is part of the plan, our video streaming platform development covers OTT apps, subscriptions, paywalls and metered access, memberships, reader communities and ticketed events, with payments through Stripe or Razorpay.
Ready-made solutions for Media & Publishing
Services we bring
Media & Publishing: FAQ
Have you built a news platform for a real publisher?
Yes. ZedBlu built and runs the digital platform for The Hawk (thehawk.in) and Dainik Hawk (dainikhawk.com), English and Hindi news brands. It combines a Next.js website served from Cloudflare's edge, a mobile-first newsroom CMS, automatic news-agency imports with AI-generated headlines, tags and meta descriptions, a digital ePaper, and Android and iOS apps. All of it runs on one backend.
How much does software development for media companies cost?
Publishing software development costs depend on scope. A brochure-style magazine website typically costs $1,500 to $5,000, while a custom news platform with a newsroom CMS, feed imports and paywalls usually falls between $8,000 and $60,000 or more. Android and iOS apps or an OTT video platform add to the budget. Content volume, integrations, languages and monetization features drive most of the cost. Book a free consultation and you will have a detailed proposal with a fixed quote within 48 hours.
Will AI-generated headlines and tags replace our editors?
No. AI handles the repetitive first draft: suggested headlines, tags, summaries and meta descriptions for each story, including agency copy. Your editors decide what goes live, and you can set rules for which sections publish automatically and which wait for review. We work with OpenAI, Anthropic Claude or Llama models and tune prompts to your style guide, so suggestions sound like your publication rather than a template.
Can you move our archive from our current CMS without hurting search traffic?
Yes. We migrate articles, images, authors, categories and tags, then map every old URL to its new address with permanent redirects to protect existing rankings and backlinks. Before launch, we crawl both versions to catch broken links and missing pages, and the old system stays available until the new one is verified. Large archives move in batches, so the newsroom keeps publishing throughout the switch.
Do you offer a ready-made news platform?
Yes. Our news portal solution includes the website, newsroom CMS, ePaper, agency feed imports and mobile apps. You can subscribe monthly and run it under your own masthead, buy a one-time license that includes the source code, or have us build a fully custom version. You can also launch on the ready platform first and add custom features later, such as regional editions, a video section or a membership program.
Got an idea?
Let's ship it.
Tell us what you're building. A senior engineer — not a salesperson — replies within one business day with next steps.