Media Tech Talk Dan Rua (Admiral) - Media Tech Talk #016
Media Tech Talk #016 - Dan Rua (Admiral)
Dan Rua (CEO of Admiral) joins Media Tech Talk to discuss visitor relationship management, ad blocker recovery, and the future of digital publishing in an AI-driven media landscape.
From the early days of Napster and Grooveshark to building Admiral — the Visitor Relationship Management (VRM) platform used by major publishers — Dan shares lessons from decades of digital disruption and explains why the future of publishing depends on direct audience relationships rather than anonymous traffic.
In this episode, we explore how ad blockers, privacy regulation, consent loss, AI platforms, and shifting distribution models are forcing publishers to rethink their commercial strategies — and why the next era of the internet will be defined by trust, engagement, and first-party audience relationships.
Chapters
(00:00) – Welcome to Media Tech Talk
(01:29) – Dan Rua’s Journey: IBM, Venture Capital & Grooveshark
(05:23) – Napster, Streaming & Lessons From the Digital Music Wars
(10:50) – Why Disruption Is Constant in the Internet Economy
(14:30) – Publisher–Visitor Relationships: The Future of Media Monetisation
(18:00) – Ad Blockers Explained: Dark Traffic & Lost Publisher Revenue
(21:20) – Visitor Relationship Management (VRM): Building Audience Value
(30:11) – Why Traffic Declines Are Forcing Publisher Strategy Changes
(47:27) – AI, Bots & Admiral’s Visitor Co-Pilot for Publishers
(50:03) – The Future of Publishing: Relationships vs Traffic Scale
💬 Guest: Dan Rua – CEO, Admiral https://www.getadmiral.com | https://www.linkedin.com/in/danrua/
🎧 Hosts:
Daevid Richards – https://www.linkedin.com/in/daevidrichards/
Paul Luckett – https://www.luckettmediaconsulting.com | https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-luckett/
Media Tech Talk explores ad tech, digital media, AI in advertising, programmatic monetisation, audience engagement, and the technologies shaping the future of publishing.