Say you run a campaign, and you whitelist the best widgets. Can you use this whitelist for new campaigns running different verticals, or would you need to start the "good widget/bad widget" testing process all over again?
Using the same whitelist is worth trying only for the same flow, vertical, payment model and targets. Or if you've found treasure sources in the sh*t field 
Most networks allow either a global whitelist/blacklist or you can use the placements IDs from one campaign and copy them to a new one.
What adxadcom posted above is also true, just because some placements work well with a specific product, it doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna work just as good with a different one. But it might still be better than starting from scratch again. Personally, I'm a bigger fan of blacklisting, compared to whitelisting... I believe it's better to try and identify the really poor placements and block them on all future campaigns. That way you can get more volume too.