Mobile Advertising Platform for AdTech Startup

Client

A North American startup

Industry

Advertising, Entertainment, Media

Services

Product development

Tech

React, Strapi, Laravel

Challenge

The vast majority of ads shown on the Internet are overlooked. That’s the reality advertisers had to put up with for years. Our client, a North American startup, wanted to challenge the status quo and create a space where viewers would actually pay attention to the ads. The client came up with an idea of a TikTok-like mobile advertising platform where users watch a stream of ads. The incentive for users to watch? An opportunity to claim a money reward by pressing a corresponding button that appears on the screen for a limited time. The client kicked off the project with a different vendor who helped them engineer a native cross-platform mobile app. The road was bumpy though. A large number of defects, a lack of transparency, and difficulties releasing the app were the reasons for the client to look for a new partner to complete the project. We took on the app development mission.

In particular, we were commissioned to:

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Carry out a technical audit of the client’s mobile app

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Reengineer the app as a mobile-friendly web application

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Introduce improvements to the advertising solution’s look and feel

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Thoroughly test the application

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Release the application to the production environment

Solution

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We kicked the project off by conducting a technical audit of the app. We found out that the code the app was running on was of low quality. The initial app was unscalable and difficult to maintain.

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Moreover, the app did not meet Google Play and App Store guidelines, hence, the likelihood of it being released to the stores was extremely low.

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Having discussed the outcomes of the audit with the client, we decided that the optimal way to go is to reengineer the advertising solution as a mobile-ready web application.

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We relied on the client’s initial design as a beacon for the new app’s look and feel — with several improvements that would make navigating the advertising platform more convenient.

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ITRex’s team of a project manager, business analyst, frontend developer, backend developer, DevOps engineer, and tester were involved in the project. The project was managed according to Scrum for more flexibility and shorter time to market.

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We started the development process with the so-called sprint zero during which we boiled the development scope down to user stories and prioritized them, arranged the necessary tools for progress tracking, and set up the infrastructure for development.

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During subsequent sprints, we developed the minimum valuable product that allows viewers to sign up, view videos, get rewards, transfer the amount won to PayPay, view the list of transactions, and log out. In turn, advertisers can sign up, upload ads, set up the budget for rewards, set the number of rewards per video, track ads budget, see the number and amount of rewards claimed, as well as tap into the viewing stats.

Impact

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The client got a fully functional MVP of their mobile advertising platform that they are actively marketing.

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The client plans to carry on with development, expanding the application’s functionality, for example, introducing viewing filters and paid access with the possibility to skip certain ads.