By Jon Walsh, co-founder of JobsInAdTech.com and Brand Ambassador for Attekmi
When I launched JobsInAdTech.com nearly three years ago, one of the first hurdles was obvious. Building a fully custom platform with a team of developers was simply too expensive for a bootstrapped startup. My co-founder and I had to find a smarter way to get to market, so we decided to use a white-label solution instead.
Fast forward to today. More than 2,000 live job posts and over 41,000 applications later, it is clear that this was the right decision.
Across the AdTech industry, the same shift has been happening quietly. There was a time when creating your own proprietary platform was almost a statement of status. If you owned the pipes, you were taken seriously. That mindset has faded. The new priority is getting to market quickly, reducing unnecessary overhead and spending time where it actually drives revenue.
White-label technology fits perfectly into that mindset. But, as with anything in this industry, the story is not entirely straightforward. These solutions offer speed and efficiency, but they come with limitations. They can help companies grow, yet they can also make them look more like their competitors. The truth sits somewhere in the middle, and the companies that understand this are the ones getting the most value.
Speed, ownership and the challenge of differentiation
Speed is the most visible benefit of white-label platforms. Creating a DSP, SSP, ad server or retail media system from scratch takes a lot of time and money. Most companies simply cannot justify that investment.
White-label platforms provide ready-built infrastructure, integrations, reporting and compliance tools so that businesses can launch quickly.
The benefits are clear:
- New products can enter the market in weeks instead of months
- Teams can focus on sales, partnerships and strategy rather than engineering
- Businesses can expand into new revenue lines without rebuilding everything from scratch
The trade-off is ownership. When you use a white-label platform, you give up a degree of control. You are tied to someone else’s roadmap. You inherit their limitations. You can only differentiate within the boundaries they allow.
This directly shapes how you look in the market. Many AdTech platforms today feel similar because they are. The interfaces look alike. The workflows echo each other. The features match up almost exactly. That is what happens when the underlying technology is shared.
This does not always matter to clients. Most advertisers and agencies do not ask what technology sits underneath the hood. They care about service, transparency and performance. If your platform delivers results, that is usually enough.
The real question is how you want to compete. Do you want to be unique, or do you want to be effective and fast? Both approaches can work, but they point to different long-term strategies. The businesses that succeed are the ones that understand this tension and build their differentiation around the product rather than relying on the product alone.
Cost savings and the pressure on long-term margins
Another major reason white-label adoption has increased is cost. Engineering teams are expensive. Maintaining and upgrading AdTech infrastructure is expensive. Staying ahead of privacy regulation, identity changes and measurement updates is also expensive.
White-label platforms absorb a large part of that burden. Companies can reduce technical overhead and rely on a provider to handle updates, compliance and integrations.
Short term, this is a clear financial win.
Long term, it introduces a different kind of cost.
Most white-label solutions charge fees. Some charge licensing fees, others add platform fees or CPM-based fees. These may be cheaper than building everything internally, but they add up over time. For high-volume businesses, these costs can put pressure on margins and make it harder to walk away later. The platform becomes deeply integrated into the business, and replacing it is not a simple decision.
The trade-off is simple: save money up front, but accept that part of your margin will always go to the platform provider.
Flexibility and the risk of dependency
White-label platforms often promote flexibility through APIs, custom modules, branded dashboards and configurable settings. And to be fair, most do offer a good amount of customisation.
However, flexibility is not the same as independence.
If you use a white-label platform, you depend on that provider’s:
- uptime
- integrations
- compliance decisions
- speed of innovation
If they fall behind, you fall behind with them.
This is not inherently a problem. Every company has dependencies somewhere in its stack. The key is how you manage them. The companies that do best usually build their differentiation around the white-label solution rather than inside it. They keep control of their strategy, their client relationships and their commercial positioning even if the technology layer is outsourced.
Why white-label solutions are growing now
Several market forces are pushing adoption higher:
1. The industry is consolidating while demand is fragmenting
Marketers want tools that are tailored to their verticals, channels and audiences. They want more control without managing more vendors. White-label tech allows companies to spin up niche offerings quickly, from retail media and CTV to DOOH and audio.
2. Regulation has become complex and costly
GDPR, TCF, CCPA, cookie deprecation and constant changes in identity management make compliance a major expense. White-label platforms take much of this off the client’s plate.
3. Investors want speed and certainty
The days of long, expensive R&D cycles are gone. Investors want traction quickly. White-label technology lets companies scale faster and reduce development risk.
4. The industry is shifting from building technology to delivering outcomes
Clients rarely reward engineering effort. They reward performance, transparency and support. Many companies are realising that building their own infrastructure is not central to the value they provide.
The future of white-labelling in adtech
White-labelling will not fade away. If anything, adoption will continue to increase. The next generation of AdTech winners will fall into two groups:
- Companies that own and build proprietary technology
- Companies that use white-label solutions intelligently and pair them with strong service, expertise and commercial strategy
The companies that will struggle are those that pretend to own technology they do not, or those that use white-label solutions without a clear story about how they deliver value beyond the platform.
White-labelling is not a shortcut or an admission of defeat. It is a strategic choice. It works when you know the trade-offs, accept them and build a business around the strengths of the model rather than its limitations.
Final thought
My decision to use a white-label for JobsInAdTech.com was simple. I wanted to focus on building the brand, shaping the experience for candidates and making it easier for people to find the latest roles across the industry. Another company handled the tech. We handled the mission. It worked.
For companies across the AdTech ecosystem, the reasoning is often the same.
White-label solutions bring speed, simplicity and scale. They also force you to think carefully about ownership, differentiation and long-term positioning. The companies that understand this will help shape where the industry goes next.
If you want guidance on what white-label tech can do for your business, speak to the team at Attekmi. They are one of the most experienced providers in the market, and unlike many platforms, advanced clients can influence their roadmap and even request custom development. They might not have a jobs board solution in a box, but across the programmatic supply chain they almost certainly have an answer.
