The online publishing system Thunder is based on the latest version of the open source CMS Drupal 8(CMS comparison). The Thunder distribution is specially tailored to the needs of publishers and media companies. The basic installation can be expanded with new modules from the Drupal modular system. This makes it quick and easy to publish multimedia content, from text with surveys to streamed videos.
The built-in responsive web design not only ensures that your readers can use a perfectly functioning website on any device - the backend, in which you write and edit your content, also works smoothly on any screen resolution. This makes it easy and convenient for your editors to publish new articles on the go.
Thunder was published by Hubert Burda Media in 2016. Behind it are media entrepreneurs, developers and industry partners from all over the world - the Thunder Coalition. Anyone can install Thunder and use or adapt existing modules. The CMS is made available under the "GNU General Public License".
The industry partners Riddle, Valition, nexx.tv, Acquia and Facebook provide modules that raise the CMS to a state-of-the-art level in terms of usability and user experience:
- Riddle Interactive Content offers survey tools, quizzes, lists and their analysis. You can use them to collect data from your readership to ultimately increase your ROI. In addition, the playful nature of these tools increases dwell time and engagement with your website.
- The nexxPLAY video player offers streaming and video on demand and is a fully-fledged video player.
- With Facebook Instant Articles, you can post your articles quickly and easily while on the move. You can find more information here.
- SingleSignOn (SSO) allows you to log into the system once and then work with the CMS from any workstation you have access to.
- The Infitiy Theme developed by InStyle increases the length of stay of your readership: Whenever an article is scrolled down, a new article relevant to the topic loads automatically. You can see what this looks like here.
- The connection to the IVW counter tool(Informationsgemeinschaft zur Feststellung der Verbreitung von Werbeträgern e.V.) enables you to obtain figures on your advertising impressions from an independent testing institution.
- Of course, the CMS is responsive and therefore suitable for all screen resolutions.
Thunder is therefore a development by publishers for publishers and offers a good basis for this target group. An agency that specializes in Drupal can build on the architecture and tailor the system to the customer's requirements.
arocom has already implemented projects based on Thunder. As Thunder developers, we are convinced that media companies do not have to compete in terms of technology, but that their content should set them apart from the competition. You should focus your digital strategy on the future. The Thunder distribution based on Drupal 8 can be a good basis for this and you can test the CMS here: https://simplytest.me/project/thunder
Important: The project name must be "thunder" and the version must be the latest. Then click "Launch sandbox". The installation only takes a few minutes.
If you would like to benefit from our experience with Thunder and Drupal 8 and need a system tailored to your requirements, please contact us.
By the way: We have written a detailed article on the revenue models of publishers in the digital age, which we are sure you will find interesting.
