TIME

Reinventing a 102-Year Icon for the Modern Attention Economy

Services:

Digital Strategy
UX and Visual Design
Frontend and Backend Engineering
CMS Architecture
SEO and Performance Optimization
Product Management
AI Strategy and Implementation

TIME’s brand has stood for depth and authority for 102 years, but by 2024, the brand's digital experience was no longer delivering on that promise.  An outdated CMS, sluggish site performance and fragmented design slowed the newsroom and frustrated readers and advertisers.

Competitors — both legacy outlets and digital natives — were outpacing TIME with modern, flexible platforms that could adapt quickly.

TIME's editorial leaders needed a faster, more flexible system that wouldn’t compromise standards. Product teams needed an architecture that could support personalization and experimentation. The business knew it needed AI, but didn’t know where to start. Advertising partners needed inventory that felt as premium as the TIME brand.

Code and Theory was trusted to lead a full-stack transformation. We built the strategic and technical foundation powering TIME’s evolution, where design, speed and AI converge to fuel the future of journalism.

Impact

  • Homepage revenue nearly tripled despite a drop in traffic, meaning dramatically higher revenue per visitor.
  • +51% YoY increase in average engagement (2:13 per user)
  • TIME achieved 38% YoY engagement growth on flagship features like TIME100 -
  • Inside Time Magazine’s AI Overhaul, Adweek

Key Takeaways

  • A headless, modular architecture, streamlined workflows and new premium ad formats (like Collections) aligned TIME's editorial, product and commercial goals on a single, scalable foundation.
  • AI unlocked new ways to experience TIME’s journalism without compromising editorial control; from features like The Daily generative audio podcast to an AI-powered saliency map into TIME’s archive.
  • Preserved TIME’s editorial identity, while modernizing how the newsroom worked, how content was delivered and how advertising value was created.
TIME Caitlin Clark

Reimagining digital strategy

Code and Theory assembled a holistic team across strategy, design, product and technology to reimagine TIME’s digital strategy from the ground up.

  • Make the reader experience more intentional, contextual, and loyal.
  • Make the advertiser experience more premium and flexible.
  • Make the newsroom experience faster and less complicated.


Technology was the enabler — not the headline. A headless, modular architecture became the backbone, allowing TIME to launch new formats and AI-powered features without re-architecting every time. Content models and data structures were rebuilt so that 102 years of journalism could be surfaced, linked and reused intelligently.

TIME 5

New platform, new products — same TIME

In partnership with TIME, Code and Theory rebuilt TIME.com as a modern, adaptive platform. Key elements included:

  • Surrounding Stories: An AI-powered, editorially guided experience that uses a saliency map to comb TIME’s vast archives for related stories. It leverages the best of TIME’s history to give readers deeper context around what they’re reading now.
  • The Daily (Generative Audio Podcast): A generative audio experience that transforms top stories into concise, listenable formats — meeting audiences where they are while still rooted in TIME’s editorial judgment.
  • Collections: A premium sponsorship module that offers advertisers rich storytelling environments (e.g., Rolex), blending editorial integrity with high-value commercial placements.
  • Streamlined Editorial Workflows: Modular templates and automation tools let journalists publish faster, experiment with new formats, and maintain quality without wrestling the CMS.
  • Homepage Redesign & Brand Refresh: A simplified, curated homepage hierarchy; thematic modules (AI, Health, Climate, Entertainment); and modernized typography, color, and layout that feel immediate without losing TIME’s authority.
TIME Hero 3

The transformation didn’t just look good — it changed the economics of TIME’s digital business. Readers now get deeper, more contextual storytelling powered by AI features that tap into more than 100 years of trusted reporting. Advertisers access premium, repeatable environments that justify higher investment. The newsroom ships faster with less friction.

Most importantly, TIME has shifted from chasing raw scale to monetizing meaningful engagement — on a platform engineered to support whatever the next era of journalism demands.