Launching an AdTech Platform

The global AdTech market continues to grow: in 2024, its size surpassed $719 billion, and by 2030, it is expected to exceed $1,580 billion. One reason for this growth is that more companies are investing in AdTech to gain better control over processes, offer additional services to clients, and more.

However, AdTech products are complex, so it may seem that creating one from scratch is a privilege for large organisations. Fortunately, launching a white label AdTech platform serves as an alternative, making it possible even for small brands to join the industry. When to choose white label and when to prioritise development from the ground up? Let's review a list of factors that will help you make a decision.

Time to Market

In the case of development from scratch, it's hard to estimate time to market since everything depends on the solution's specificity and required features. However, keep in mind that basic capabilities are often not enough to ensure the platform's competitiveness. For instance, a platform supporting only mobile and desktop advertising won't be able to compete with solutions that also offer CTV and DOOH marketing. Considering this, as well as the need for thorough testing, it may take you months and even years to launch your AdTech solution.

In turn, if you choose a white label AdTech platform, you can launch it within a few weeks or even faster. Such solutions are pre-built – they are only getting customised according to your brand's style. Some companies (like Attekmi) also build additional custom features to fully tailor the platform to your needs, but even in this case, your solution will be launched much faster than if you build it from scratch. And the faster you enter the market, the faster you can start earning.

Resource Investment

Time is not the only resource that matters. If you choose to build an AdTech platform from scratch, you will also have to invest in the following:

  • A large and diverse technical team with expertise in the AdTech area (engineers, testers, UI and UX developers, security and compliance specialists, etc.). Recruiting and retaining this talent is an expensive and challenging task.
  • Tools and technology essential to build a platform.
  • Unpredictable costs during the development process.

Development from scratch involves high upfront and ongoing costs, and it's hard to estimate them accurately. As for white label solutions, hiring a large team with deep expertise is not essential – a reputable vendor will customise everything for you and help you understand how everything works. The upfront and ongoing costs are predictable and much lower in comparison with development from the ground up.

Control and Flexibility

The best thing about development from scratch is that you're in control of everything. You decide on the niche, features, design, roadmap, pricing models, etc. You depend on no one, and all strategic decisions remain internal. You can change your platform whenever there is a need to do so and benefit from full transparency.

In turn, leveraging a white label platform implies dependence on the AdTech vendor. The roadmap is usually driven by the provider; flexibility and customisation opportunities are limited, and transparency is often partial. From this point of view, it may seem that if you cannot find a white label platform that meets your needs in full, you need to build one from scratch. Fortunately, it's not always like that. Some providers offer advanced customisation, so the solution is customised according to your requirements, just as if you were to develop it on your own. The right provider is also flexible, prioritises your needs, and ensures transparency into the processes, fees, and other aspects.

Maintenance and Upgrades

It's not enough to build an AdTech platform – it's also essential to maintain it. Besides, new capabilities must be introduced on a regular basis to keep the platform competitive and profitable. In the case of development from scratch, both tasks are your responsibility, which contributes to ongoing time and money investments. If you choose a white label option, the provider will deal with the maintenance and upgrade processes.

Scalability

Whichever AdTech solution you launch, you will most likely decide to scale at some point. If you have created your platform from scratch, its expansion is your responsibility, and it requires thorough planning and significant investment. Increasing the amount of traffic often means scaling the team as well. Ensuring compliance with privacy regulations in the new regions can be challenging. Some features can take loads of time to implement.

If you decide to use a white label AdTech platform, you depend on the vendor. For instance, adopting a new format may take some time unless this specific format is prioritised by the provider. However, modern white label solutions are designed to grow together with your brand. Additionally, Attekmi or any other reputable AdTech vendor always considers the needs of its partners and implements new features according to their feedback.

Risk Management

In terms of risk management, white label platforms win again, and here is why:

  • Such solutions have been tested by both the provider and other clients, so the risk of an error is minimal.
  • Lower upfront costs imply lower financial risks.
  • If an incident happens, you're not alone – the provider will help you.
  • Minimised compliance risks.
  • Lower fraud risks since modern white label solutions are usually equipped with fraud detection and prevention capabilities.

In turn, AdTech platforms built from scratch imply multiple potential challenges:

  • A high probability of errors and bugs.
  • Budget overruns are common.
  • High upfront and ongoing costs mean high financial risks.
  • You're the one responsible for compliance and responding to incidents.
  • You have to deal with the fraud challenge on your own (note that the digital ad fraud losses keep growing and are expected to surpass $170 billion by 2028).

To Sum Up

So, what to choose? Everything depends on your goals and the current situation with your business. If you want to launch an AdTech platform promptly, minimise risks and your involvement, and save your budget, white label is the perfect choice. You only need to partner with an experienced provider.

In case you have sufficient resources, require full control and strategic independence, and have something to offer to your clients while you're building your platform, consider development from scratch.

Make sure to assess your capabilities, resources, and goals thoroughly – this will help you make the final decision.