The State of B2B SaaS and Tech Native Advertising

B2B SaaS and tech native advertising in 2026 is a channel with large, consolidating platforms and almost no public proof of software-specific results. The verifiable picture comes from company filings, Taboola, Teads and Salesforce, and from CMI's 2026 B2B survey; no issuer publishes a native CTR, cost per lead or pipeline rate for SaaS.

Key Takeaways

• Taboola had about 2,200 scaled advertisers in Q4 2025.
• Taboola's 2025 ex-TAC gross profit was USD 713.5 million, up about 7%.
• Teads' 2025 revenue was USD 1,300.5 million, up 46%, mainly from its acquisition.
• Teads derived 93% of its 2025 revenue directly from advertisers.
• Salesforce's fiscal 2026 advertising expense was USD 0.8 billion, down from USD 1.1 billion in fiscal 2024.
• 25% of B2B marketers plan to raise paid media spend in 2026 (CMI, n=1,015).
• US digital ad revenue grew 13.9% in 2025 (IAB/PwC).
• No study reports native results for B2B SaaS.

B2B SaaS native advertising: the state in one table

Each line is a figure a company or survey published about itself. None is broken out for software advertisers.

The supply side: two platforms dominate open-web native

Taboola reported 2025 ex-TAC gross profit of USD 713.5 million, up from USD 667.5 million, and says its Realize platform reaches over 600 million daily active users. Its 2025 annual report states that it "had approximately 2,200 Scaled Advertisers working with us directly, or through advertising agencies, worldwide during the fourth quarter of 2025", defining a scaled advertiser as one with more than USD 100,000 of cumulative gross spend on its network over the trailing period the filing sets out.

Teads, the company formed when Outbrain acquired Teads in February 2025, reported 2025 revenue of USD 1,300.5 million, up from USD 889.9 million, "primarily due to the Acquisition", and ex-TAC gross profit of USD 529.7 million. Its 2025 annual report says "we derived 93% of our revenue directly from advertisers". For a SaaS buyer, consolidation means fewer, larger networks to negotiate with, not proof that software ads perform.

Teads' mid-year disclosure shows how concentrated the buyer side is too. Its Q2 2025 results reported "over 500 advertisers spending at least half a million dollars over the twelve months ended June 30, 2025, representing approximately 70% of total customer spend, with an average spend per advertiser of over $2 million." A SaaS company testing native at a few thousand dollars a month is a small account next to those buyers, which affects the support and inventory access it can expect. Ask for a named account contact, publisher-level reporting and the ability to block placements before committing a quarterly budget.

The demand side: what a SaaS leader spends on advertising

B2B software rarely discloses channel spend, but the largest vendors disclose totals. Salesforce's fiscal 2026 annual report states: "Advertising expense was $0.8 billion, $1.0 billion, and $1.1 billion for fiscal 2026, 2025 and 2024, respectively." Total sales and marketing expense was USD 14,345 million in fiscal 2026, against USD 13,257 million a year earlier, or 35% of total revenues in both years (37% in fiscal 2024).

Read against revenue, advertising expense fell from roughly 3% of revenue in fiscal 2024 to about 2% in fiscal 2026 (our calculation from the same report), while sales and marketing stayed at 35% of revenue in the last two years.

The pattern is worth noting: advertising fell by about a quarter over two years while total sales and marketing kept rising. The report lists "multichannel marketing campaigns that span email, social media, the web, television and more" among its primary marketing activities, without naming native or giving a channel split.

Where B2B budgets are moving in 2026

CMI and MarketingProfs' B2B Content and Marketing Trends: Insights for 2026 surveyed 1,015 B2B marketers between June 24 and August 14, 2025; technology companies were 25% of respondents. Asked where they would increase spending in 2026, 45% chose AI-powered marketing tools, 33% events and experiential, 32% owned media and 25% paid media, with content personalization at 24%. Native is not a separate answer; it sits inside paid media.

The wider market native sits inside

The IAB/PwC Internet Advertising Revenue Report for 2025 put US digital advertising at nearly USD 300 billion, a 13.9% increase and the highest in the report's 30-year history. The public page does not list native as its own revenue line, so any claim about native's share of B2B tech budgets lacks a public source.

Which native formats fit a SaaS funnel

The IAB Native Advertising Playbook 2.0 (May 2019) defines three types: in-feed or in-content ads, content recommendation ads, and branded or native content. SaaS marketers tend to use them for different jobs: recommendation units to push a research report or benchmark, in-feed units to promote a webinar, and branded content for thought leadership on business publishers. None of the platforms reports which format wins for software, so treat the mapping as a test plan.

Measuring native across a long SaaS sales cycle

The reason SaaS native results are so rarely published is structural. A software deal can pass through several stakeholders and many weeks before it closes, while native platforms optimise to an on-site action measured within their own attribution window. A recommendation unit that delivers a report download today may only show up in pipeline a quarter later, under another channel's last click.

That gap is where most SaaS native tests are won or lost. The buyer has to decide in advance which on-site action stands in for pipeline, how long to wait before judging it, and how the CRM will tie a closed deal back to the first native touch. Without those three decisions, a native report shows cheap clicks and expensive leads, and the channel gets cut before any deal it started can close.

Salesforce's own filing hints at the same tension: advertising fell to USD 0.8 billion while total sales and marketing rose to USD 14,345 million, which suggests spend moving toward activities the company can tie more directly to revenue. The filing does not say which activities those were.

A paid-search comparator for B2B lead costs

No native cost per lead is published for SaaS. The closest public lead cost is paid search: WordStream's 2025 Google Ads benchmarks put business services at a 5.65% click-through rate, USD 5.58 per click, 5.14% conversion rate and USD 103.54 per lead. That figure covers search ads for a broad business category, not native and not software specifically. Use it as a ceiling while your own native data builds.

The same dataset shows how much B2B lead costs vary by vertical: finance and insurance leads cost USD 83.93 against business services at USD 103.54, a gap of almost 20 dollars for the same channel in the same year. If search spreads that wide across neighbouring categories, a single native benchmark for all of tech would mislead more than it helps.

Disclosure rules for sponsored B2B content

Thought-leadership advertorials carry two compliance layers. The FTC native advertising guide requires that a native ad be identifiable as advertising before the reader engages. The FTC Endorsement Guides, 16 CFR Part 255 state that advertisers "are subject to liability for misleading or unsubstantiated statements made through endorsements or for failing to disclose unexpected material connections between themselves and their endorsers". Paid customer quotes, partner case studies and sponsored analyst commentary all fall inside that rule.

What the state of the channel means for SaaS buyers

1. Expect concentration: two filers, Taboola and Teads, describe most open-web native supply.
2. Price against your own pipeline, with the USD 103.54 search lead as a labelled ceiling.
3. Fund it from paid media, the line 25% of B2B marketers are growing.
4. Test formats separately using the IAB's three native types.
5. Disclose every endorsement inside sponsored content.

For the cross-industry view see our native advertising statistics. SaaS organic search data is in our B2B SaaS and tech enterprise SEO statistics and B2B SaaS and tech international SEO statistics. Our growth marketing team can design the pipeline test.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is native advertising effective for B2B SaaS companies?

No public study isolates native ad results for B2B SaaS or tech. Neither Taboola nor Teads reports results by software vertical, and CMI's 2026 B2B survey covers paid media as a whole. Effectiveness has to be proven with your own pipeline data.

How big are the main native advertising platforms?

Taboola reported ex-TAC gross profit of USD 713.5 million for 2025 and about 2,200 scaled advertisers in Q4 2025. Teads reported 2025 revenue of USD 1,300.5 million, up 46% primarily due to its acquisition of Teads by Outbrain, and ex-TAC gross profit of USD 529.7 million.

Are B2B marketers increasing paid media budgets?

Some are. In CMI and MarketingProfs' survey of 1,015 B2B marketers, fielded June to August 2025, 25% said they would increase spending on paid media in 2026, behind AI-powered tools at 45%, events at 33% and owned media at 32%. Technology companies were 25% of respondents.

How much do large SaaS companies spend on advertising?

Salesforce's fiscal 2026 annual report states advertising expense was USD 0.8 billion, USD 1.0 billion and USD 1.1 billion for fiscal 2026, 2025 and 2024. Its total sales and marketing expense was USD 14,345 million, or 35% of revenue. It does not disclose a native share.

Do FTC endorsement rules apply to B2B native content?

Yes. The FTC Endorsement Guides at 16 CFR Part 255 make advertisers liable for failing to disclose unexpected material connections with endorsers, which covers paid customer quotes and analyst-style testimonials inside sponsored content.

Sources

_{Taboola, Q4 and full year 2025 results
Taboola, 2025 Annual Report
Teads, Q4 and full year 2025 results
Teads, 2025 Annual Report
Salesforce, Fiscal 2026 Annual Report (Form 10-K)
CMI / MarketingProfs, B2B Content and Marketing Trends: Insights for 2026
IAB/PwC Internet Advertising Revenue Report, full year 2025
IAB, Native Advertising Playbook 2.0
WordStream, Google Ads Benchmarks 2025
FTC, Native Advertising: A Guide for Businesses
eCFR, 16 CFR Part 255 Endorsement Guides}