Why is it critical for ad tech platforms to have continuous product evolution cycles?

Now we know you wonder whatever happened to the Roman empire quite often, but do you ever think about why it stopped existing? Or where on earth did Blackberry go? Not the fruit, they’re still around. Although with that price tag, I won’t be surprised if they go bust, too.

Do you know Nokia in 2007 maintained a 49.4% hold over the entire mobile phone market? And Netscape was one of the most popular internet browsers during those good ol’ dial-up days before the company lost its battle to Internet Explorer. Yes, imagine being so bad at innovation you actually lose to Internet Explorer!

The common denominator for the ultimate failure of all these products is this: lack of innovation. Maybe not for the Roman empire but hey, since you were thinking about it already, a harmless mention for clicks won’t hurt anybody.

Is your product surviving or thriving?

When product innovation falters, it eventually turns into product complacency, where product teams desperately try to keep it afloat with bare minimum innovation. An innovation cycle like that, or a lack thereof, is destined for doom.

Especially in a rapidly evolving space like adtech, if your product is not iterating for continuous improvement, your glory days can be very short lived.

ElementalTV has been in the adtech space for over a decade now, and exclusively within the CTV advertising niche for the past 1,825 days (or 5 years, but we’ve made each day count). What makes our CTV ad monetization solutions so robust and fool-proof is our pledge to consistently assess, analyze, measure, and improve our offerings. And truth be told, being in the market for targeting and measuring just makes our job that much easier (and exciting).

Putting lipstick on a pig?

Here’s a little secret: Jumping on the CTV bandwagon, you’ll see a lot of legacy in-app/desktop/mobile web centric platforms masquerading as CTV/OTT platforms. Now there’s absolutely nothing wrong with having that ancestry however, there’s a multitude of players in the market offering hacked together features desperate to meet CTV/OTT use cases. The problem with having a cookie cutter solution manifests later on in the provider-client relationship in the form of failure of the product to tweak and customize according to unique client needs.

ElementalTV’s laser focus on providing bespoke, publisher-centric solutions spans across our product and is grounded in customer obsession. Our network of media partners and connections within the CTV industry have helped us imbue our product generously with invaluable user feedback and market insights, ensuring that our platform aligns with user expectations and industry trends.

Risks of stagnancy

The adtech landscape, particularly CTV, is extremely dynamic and competitive. Advertisers are attracted to platforms that offer innovative solutions for reaching and engaging audiences. A lack of innovation will result in reduced appeal to advertisers seeking advanced targeting options, interactive ad formats, and metrics to measure campaign performance effectively, leading to a decline in ad spend on the platform.

Additionally, an adtech product that stagnates in innovation may struggle to provide new and innovative ways for advertisers to monetize their content. This limitation will result in decreased ROI for both the platform and its advertising partners.

ElementalTV’s experience in the industry is a testament to the fact that continuous innovation is essential for succeeding in the rapidly changing landscape of the CTV industry.