The Startup That’s Asking You To Turn Off Your Adblocker | Will Richardson of Admiral
When Will Richardson moved to Gainesville in 2011, he had just gotten a job at Grooveshark and was looking forward to growing with the company. Grooveshark was facing revenue issues from ad blockers on its in-browser music streaming. Paired with a huge lawsuit, the company ended up going under in 2015.
Will was one of many talented web developers without a job in the Gainesville market. They put their heads together to find a way to continue working together. The answer they eventually stumbled upon was recovering revenue lost from ad blockers.
Initially, the team at UF Innovate | The Hub resident company Admiral was looking for a way to get around popular ad blockers. But then they stumbled upon something interesting – users would often choose to disable their adblocker when asked. With a simple message about how ads support the content they love, many users would choose to see ads – no difficult, technical solution needed.
Admiral now sees a new future for the internet. One built on visitor relationship management. Being honest with users and giving them options to support businesses they care about is key.
The Gainesville-based company already provides subscription services, privacy considerations, email acquisition, and more for online publishers. They’re creating an internet that’s both profitable and browsable for all.