What is the expected eCPM for JG's VaaS product in the next year
we appear on this IoT user's mobile app.
And then we will appear on the smart devices. Think about the user case, when you wake up in the morning, go to the kitchen and start preparing your breakfast. When you are cooking, the big screen on your refrigerator will start showing your favorite short videos. So isn't this going to be -- going to make your cooking more fun? All this is possible is because it is powered by JG VaaS.
So we think this is what's going to happen in the future, and we think it's really exciting. I think the adoption across multiple industries are going to happen not overnight, but we do see the trend. Actually, the demand is there.
Brian Kinstlinger -- Alliance Global Partners -- Analyst
So in the short term, there'll be a very small contributor to revenue. But as we look to maybe the second half of 2022, does it become a catalyst to revenue growth? Or is that even too soon?
Weidong Luo -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
That's what we are aiming to. Yeah, you are correct. In the short term, the revenue contribution is still relatively small, given our -- the large base of our traditional products, the push services and the other related SDK tools, right? But for next year, actually, we aim to have the sales force and to have -- to drive strongly to promote to sell this product. So certainly, that will be our key focus for next year for this VaaS product,  as well as the UMS product, these two new products.
Brian Kinstlinger -- Alliance Global Partners -- Analyst
OK. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Ryan Roberts of Navis Capital. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Ryan Roberts -- Navis Capital -- Analyst
Hi. Good evening, guys. Can you hear me?
Weidong Luo -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Yes, Ryan.
Ryan Roberts -- Navis Capital -- Analyst
Great. So my question is really kind of more on the, I guess, the financial performance. So first question kind of on gross margin for SaaS, I know it moves around a little bit from kind of from quarter to quarter. It looks like it's softened a little in this quarter.
And so, I was kind of curious if you can give us some color on why that might have been? And I've got a question about kind of the outlook after that?
Weidong Luo -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Yes. I guess, the margins did not move as much as what we have expected, it did drop a bit, but I guess there's a more functionality on some of the apps that we brought in for the JG Alliance we, yes, we managed to get more than some of the share of revenue. So in that case, we are giving them some of the benefits of our gross margin. So we do not expect that to be a continuous trend.
So we expect the margin to be above 17% nevertheless. So as far as the margin is concerned, we don't see that as a meaningful dip.
Fei Chen -- President
Yeah. So we aim to keep our gross margin above 17% at least that's our near-term target.
Ryan Roberts -- Navis Capital -- Analyst
Got you. Got you. OK. And then that sounds kind of like, I guess, a base case.
I think in the past several quarters, it's been certainly well above that. So that's, I guess, how I'm looking at that. And really kind of -- as we sit here now in November, looking into, I guess, really, actually, we're almost in December here, how are we thinking about next year? Because it sounds like you have JG Alliance devices coming back into the pool, the previous analyst asked about sign-ups and kind of you mentioned that you're back on to a normalized pace, which I've realized there are vagaries there with what developers want to do or not. But how are we thinking about the year ahead? And maybe on JG Alliance, can you update us on kind of the overall ad load as you go into the end of the year and also eCPM.
How are those metrics kind of shaping up?
Weidong Luo -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. So Ryan, so actually our teams, different business units currently are still undertaking the process to finalize the next year's budget, right? So we usually have used two approach, bottom up and a to
we appear on this IoT user's mobile app.
And then we will appear on the smart devices. Think about the user case, when you wake up in the morning, go to the kitchen and start preparing your breakfast. When you are cooking, the big screen on your refrigerator will start showing your favorite short videos. So isn't this going to be -- going to make your cooking more fun? All this is possible is because it is powered by JG VaaS.
So we think this is what's going to happen in the future, and we think it's really exciting. I think the adoption across multiple industries are going to happen not overnight, but we do see the trend. Actually, the demand is there.
Brian Kinstlinger -- Alliance Global Partners -- Analyst
So in the short term, there'll be a very small contributor to revenue. But as we look to maybe the second half of 2022, does it become a catalyst to revenue growth? Or is that even too soon?
Weidong Luo -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
That's what we are aiming to. Yeah, you are correct. In the short term, the revenue contribution is still relatively small, given our -- the large base of our traditional products, the push services and the other related SDK tools, right? But for next year, actually, we aim to have the sales force and to have -- to drive strongly to promote to sell this product. So certainly, that will be our key focus for next year for this VaaS product,  as well as the UMS product, these two new products.
Brian Kinstlinger -- Alliance Global Partners -- Analyst
OK. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. We have our next question from the line of Ryan Roberts of Navis Capital. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Ryan Roberts -- Navis Capital -- Analyst
Hi. Good evening, guys. Can you hear me?
Weidong Luo -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Yes, Ryan.
Ryan Roberts -- Navis Capital -- Analyst
Great. So my question is really kind of more on the, I guess, the financial performance. So first question kind of on gross margin for SaaS, I know it moves around a little bit from kind of from quarter to quarter. It looks like it's softened a little in this quarter.
And so, I was kind of curious if you can give us some color on why that might have been? And I've got a question about kind of the outlook after that?
 Weidong Luo -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Yes. I guess, the margins did not move as much as what we have expected, it did drop a bit, but I guess there's a more functionality on some of the apps that we brought in for the JG Alliance we, yes, we managed to get more than some of the share of revenue. So in that case, we are giving them some of the benefits of our gross margin. So we do not expect that to be a continuous trend.
So we expect the margin to be above 17% nevertheless. So as far as the margin is concerned, we don't see that as a meaningful dip.
Fei Chen -- President
Yeah. So we aim to keep our gross margin above 17% at least that's our near-term target.
Ryan Roberts -- Navis Capital -- Analyst
Got you. Got you. OK. And then that sounds kind of like, I guess, a base case.
I think in the past several quarters, it's been certainly well above that. So that's, I guess, how I'm looking at that. And really kind of -- as we sit here now in November, looking into, I guess, really, actually, we're almost in December here, how are we thinking about next year? Because it sounds like you have JG Alliance devices coming back into the pool, the previous analyst asked about sign-ups and kind of you mentioned that you're back on to a normalized pace, which I've realized there are vagaries there with what developers want to do or not. But how are we thinking about the year ahead? And maybe on JG Alliance, can you update us on kind of the overall ad load as you go into the end of the year and also eCPM.
How are those metrics kind of shaping up?
Weidong Luo -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. So Ryan, so actually our teams, different business units currently are still undertaking the process to finalize the next year's budget, right? So we usually have used two approach, bottom up and a to