What is SaaS? | Software as a Service Explained
In this article, we will explain to you how the SaaS business model works and what it is. After covering the basics, we will dig more into details on how the SaaS solution works in programmatic and if publishers should use it for their websites.
Let’s start!
What is SaaS?
SaaS or software as a service is a cloud-based solution that usually works through the internet browser. Meaning it’s an already developed software technology available by third-party vendors over the internet, so you don’t need to develop and maintain the software yourself.
To use SaaS, you usually have to pay a monthly charge to a service provider and have a web browser.
There are three cloud computing services, and SaaS is one of them:
- PaaS or platform-as-a-service
- IaaS or infrastructure as a service
- SaaS or software as a service
Here are some of the best cloud web hosting services to choose from.
How does SaaS work?
SaaS works as a service provider that has its own data centers. It relies on centralized hosting of software programs on the cloud, which can typically be accessed through a web browser.
The greatest thing about SaaS–you don’t have to worry about software updates and maintenance because the service provider takes care of it. SaaS Help Desk Software, as a cloud-based solution, enables businesses to easily deploy and access a comprehensive customer support system without needing extensive infrastructure, enhancing efficiency and scalability.
The main goal of SaaS:
- minimize the cost,
- reduce the time for the deployment,
- increase transparency.
You don’t have to worry about installation, software licensing, and support. By choosing SaaS, businesses can be more efficient and more productive.
How Does SaaS Work in Programmatic?
In programmatic SaaS solution is an already-developed technology that is managed by publishers themselves. Meaning, a company that has developed SaaS helps publishers implement it on their websites, but all the management parts are publishers’ own responsibility.
Such as:
- multiple SSP accounts,
- blocklists,
- collection of payments.
SaaS in programmatic is driven by a cloud-based ad server. It connects SSPs, DSPs, and Ad Exchanges, like Google, through the closest data centers available. The greatest thing about SaaS is that programmatic ads can compete with direct campaigns at the same time, and the publisher is the one who controls it.
Technically it is the only way to let programmatic demand, including Google and the publisher’s direct campaigns, compete in one unified header bidding auction.
Payment Model
Publishers have to pay a fixed CPM fee based on the number of website calls to the ad server (programmatic SaaS). Usually, when a publisher’s ad inventory is sold through a monetization partner, revenue share serves as commission, whereas with SaaS, the price is fixed.
By choosing a SaaS solution, publishers can better understand how much money they pay for technology and what sales results are generated from programmatic and direct campaigns.
Gross bid prices are participating in publishers’ header bidding auctions and being reported in real-time. Everything is transparent, as the ad-serving business part is split from the ad-selling part. Meanwhile, SaaS provides access to partners (SSPs) and more information about the optimization process itself.
Now, we are going to take a look at the Setupad product–header bidding SaaS solution.
Related Article: Header Bidding Process Explained
Example of Setupad Header Bidding SaaS Solution
Let’s imagine that you are already using a non-optimized header bidding solution, and your website generates ad revenue of 100K EUR per month–50K EUR from programmatic and 50K EUR from direct campaigns. You already have accounts in 5 SSPs, but you wonder how to optimize better and increase the ad revenue.
So here comes the Setupad header bidding SaaS solution to help you!
Setupad will implement a header bidding solution into your GAM (Google Ad Manager) account. All programmatic ads will then start to compete with direct campaigns and improve the CPM prices. Programmatic is now allowed to overbid direct campaigns and often takes place for valuable internet users.
Thanks to the cloud-based architecture and S2S(server-to-server) connections, Setupad SaaS is serving ads much faster. Publisher gains more impressions and may opt-in for additional unique demand from Setupad SSP.
In this example, by increasing all the metrics publisher’s ad revenue might easily go up to 150K EUR per month.
Here you can read more about Setupad Prebid solution for Publishers.
Will the SaaS Solution be the Right Choice for Your Website?
- Is your site’s monthly ad revenue over 100K EUR?
- Do you have Google Adx or Google Ad Manager accounts?
- Do you or your monetization partner have multiple SSP accounts?
- Do you want to optimize your direct campaigns with header bidding?
If your answers to all the points above were YES, we highly recommend trying a header bidding SaaS solution. If you have more questions, email us at [email protected].
