SaaS market research, with real ad data

Market research for a SaaS answers three questions: who already sells in this market, is it growing, and how do those companies get customers. Ads answer all three, because a company only keeps paying for an ad while it brings in more money than it costs.

1. Name the market the way buyers say it. “CRM”, “email marketing”, “AI video”. Short, plain words find more companies than a long pitch.

2. Count who already sells. Many companies paying for ads means people buy this, and you will have a fight. Very few means a gap, or no buyers.

3. Check the direction. Count how many of those companies run more ads than a month ago, and how many run fewer. More ads means they are putting more money in because it pays. Fewer: find out why before you build.

4. See how they sell, then find your way in. Where they advertise, which formats they use, and what their button asks for. Then look for the buyers they ignore: the free SaaS Niche Finder shows which niches are open, and the SaaS Idea Validator checks your exact idea.

A survey tells you what people say they would buy. Ads show what companies pay to sell, every week, with real money. People are kind in surveys; budgets are not.

Use both, in this order. Start with ads to find a market that already pays. Then talk to buyers, or run a short survey, to learn why they buy and what they miss. That gap is your product.

Companies selling. The SaaS companies with 3 or more live ads that match your words. Under 5 is Almost empty, 5 to 14 is Open, 15 to 49 is Competitive and 50 or more is Crowded.

Scaling now and just started. Scaling means at least a fifth more ads than a month ago, or a company that just started spending. Just started counts only the ones that began in the last weeks. We call a direction only for companies with at least 5 ads a week that we have watched for 6 weeks or more.

Which way is it moving? Each company we can read is scaling, steady or pulling back, judged on its own ads: the last 4 weeks against the month before. Many scaling means demand is growing, and more rivals will come. Many pulling back: dig before you build.

How they sell. From the market’s live ads in our library: the share of images, videos and carousels, and what the button asks for. “Sign up” and “Download the app” point to products people try on their own. “Book a demo” points to products sold by a sales team. The oldest live ad shows how long one ad can keep paying.

A market size in dollars. Nobody outside a company knows its real revenue, so we do not make one up. On SaaSpy Pro you see our estimate of each company’s revenue and ad spend, shown as a range, and the sum for the market.

Companies that never advertise. Some products grow through search, word of mouth or sales calls, and never run ads. Some advertise only on TikTok, X or Reddit, which we do not track. Our Google and LinkedIn coverage is still growing.

Why people buy. Ads show what sells, not why. For the why, read the reviews of the leading companies and talk to their customers.