Getting started with Admiral, a first party data tool for newsrooms
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As privacy regulations tighten, third-party cookies disappear and AI reshapes search traffic, media companies need direct connections with their core audiences more than ever.
First-party data collection fills the gap left by the decline of cookies, helping publishers better understand readers, personalize experiences and monetize the information they collect.
Admiral’s first-party data service offers methods of collecting visitor data through a single-tag setup. Publishers can pull audience data into customizable segments for driving subscriptions, improving ad targeting and identifying revenue opportunities.
Here’s how to get Admiral up and running on your site.
Step 1: Set up and pricing
Admiral offers several services, including adblock recovery, paywalls and paid subscriptions, first-party data collection, privacy and consent management, revenue analytics and social growth.
Pricing varies based on services and monthly pageviews per domain. Admiral offers a seven-day free trial for all products. To access enterprise pricing or see the product in action, book a demo. An all-in-one subscription starts at $250 a month.
This guide focuses on Admiral’s first-party data service, called Connect. Here’s what it includes:
Connect First-Party Visitor Data Engine subscription includes:
Starting at $50 a month. The flat rate varies based on monthly pageviews per domain.
- Collect and use first-party data
- Segment and monetize data without code
- Automate data sharing using Zapier
- Sync with CRM, analytics and ad platforms
- Improve ad targeting by pushing enriched audience segments to Google Ad Manager
- Analytics reports for each segment
- 24/7 customer support
Step 2: Create your account
Getting Admiral running on your site:
- Create an Admiral account with your name, email, password and phone number
- Enter the name of your company, the property name and domain
- Install the Admiral tag on your site by pasting the tag into the <head> of every page you want to track
- Click continue to dashboard to see your analytics appear within an hour
Tip: If you have a WordPress site, follow these steps to set up Admiral with a plugin.
Step 3: Start collecting first-party data
- Set up custom Visitor Data fields to store the data you wish to collect (emails, phone numbers, location data, interests, etc.)
- Create optional Benefits to incentivize visitors to enter their data (product giveaways, free trial of premium subscription, newsletter access, etc.)
- Configure the Data Offer criteria to specify which questions to ask visitors, choose required fields and set up possible answer values
- Build a Journey to target select visitor segments with the request for data and finalize how the pop-up will appear to readers
- The pop-up can take over the page and require visitors to interact before accessing content, or it can appear in a corner as an optional “Nudge” so visitors can still browse freely
- Design the pop-up’s font, colors, images, size and branding in Admiral’s editor
Tip: Follow the steps in “Collect first-party data (1PD) in an Admiral Engage” or watch this step-by-step demo video to complete the steps listed above.
Step 4: Segment your visitors
- Set up a Visitor Data field to store data on the specific type of user you want to target
- Create Visitor Segments for those users (e.g., PC gamers or console gamers)
- Use analytics in Admiral to see conversions from each segment
- Build unique Journeys to target each distinct segment and maximize potential conversions
Tip: Follow the steps in “Journey Optimization” to set up visitor segments.
Is Admiral right for your newsroom?
Choose Admiral if you:
- Need a quick, low-lift implementation process on a budget
- Want to monetize visitors through subscriptions, ad impressions and sign-ups
- Need to collect and analyze first-party data like email, phone and location
- Use giveaways and other promotions to connect with readers
- Want to grow readership and engagement through subscriptions and newsletters
Consider alternatives if you need:
- Deeper integrations with CRM, marketing automation tools, email service providers and data warehouses
- A full-scale customer data platform with advanced features like unified profiles, identity resolution and deep segmentation across channels
- More robust personalization and lifecycle marketing
Pro tips
Get creative with giveaways: Most publishers collect first-party data through pop-ups asking readers to sign up for newsletters or subscribe for premium content, but that’s not the only approach. Kip Morgan, head of audience development, marketing and analytics at Golf.com, explained how the site uses giveaways for gear like Stewart golf trolleys to collect data. ”Mainly it helps us achieve newsletter emails for newsletter subscriptions. It gives the site an additional sort of fun, engaging thing of like, ‘Oh, not only can you come and read articles, you can come and win stuff or enter the giveaway.’ It’s kind of fun,” Morgan said.
Additional pro tips:
- Popups can take over the full page or appear in a corner to be less intrusive
- Publishers can repress the popup on certain pages to avoid conflict with sensitive content, advertisers or partners
- Publishers can choose to surface popups to specific visitor segments that are more likely to convert and supply first-party data
- Admiral is open to building new features to meet publishers’ needs
Known limitations:
- Admiral is not a full CDP (customer data platform)
- Integrations are more limited, but Zapier can help fill gaps
- AI features are not available for the first-party data Connect part of the platform
- New feature development takes time
Alternatives
- Build unified views of each visitor to see behavior and engagement over time
- Create detailed audience segments and activate them across CRM, marketing and ad tech tools
- Use first-party data across web, mobile, email, CRM systems, ad platforms and analytics tools
- On-device data processing to meet strict privacy requirements
- Turns anonymous visitors into addressable segments using publisher-first data, context and behavior
- Built-in clean room and data collaboration features
- AI-powered audience segmentation
TripleLift (previously 1plusX):
- Uses AI modeling to build unified audience profiles
- Turns anonymous visitors into addressable segments
- Uses predictive modeling to infer demographics and behavior for lookalike audiences
- Focus on privacy features and building audiences without third-party data
- Unifies anonymous and authenticated data into rich visitor profiles
- Publishers can host Meiro in their own infrastructure for full control over data privacy
- Builds audience segments for cross-channel campaigns without code
Note: Most first-party data platforms require demos and intro calls for full pricing. Admiral provides pricing upfront and offers free signup for testing. If comparing platforms, budget 30-45 minutes for each demo.
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