Pay-per-call (PPCall, also called cost-per-call) is an advertising model which allows companies to advertise on TV and literally pay for each call generated from each TV commercial aired based on a performance model and agreed upon cost per call. The Pay Per Call model allows companies to avoid expensive cash media spends for TV and radio, in favor of only paying for qualified calls. A Qualified Call is a pre-determined and agreed upon item and generally is measured in call length duration or obtaining a minimum number of data points from a call (i.e. Caller name, email, and phone number). Pay Per Call service providers has established networks to place media on TV nationally, locally, and regionally. Those seeking to advertise on TV using Pay-Per-Call strategies generally need to provide a deposit against future leads (a typical deposit is $15K to $20K for a national media buy).

The popularity of Pay Per Call TV campaigns continues to grow. Typical TV commercials for this approach include legal torts and legal services, insurance and medical devices and services, and continue to expand to major brand marketers seeking new approaches to generating sales using cost-effective strategies. With the advancements of telephone call center reporting services, TV advertisers can measure calls in real-time, capture call data including telephone number and zip code, as well as record each call.

Pay Per Call TV advertising is not similar to online pay per click (PPC) advertising and induces the viewer to make a telephone call only instead of viewing an external website. Both enterprises looking to reach certain locations, or local/regional businesses can benefit from Pay Per Call campaigns, because it allows customers to talk with the seller before buying a product or service. Vendors of pay-per-call advertising attribute the growth of the model to the popularity of smartphones and claim that it reduces the costs of on-line click fraud.

Pay-per-call advertising is not to be confused with premium-rate telephone numbers. Pay-per-call is the inverse of a premium telephone number, in that the advertiser who receives the call, not the caller, is charged for the service. Since it is cost per lead advertising, the rates are higher than for toll-free telephone number service. In general, the advertiser is only billed for calls that last at least one minute.

The duration of interactions (since callers spend more time interacting with the business on the phone than looking at their website) and the probability of fraud through calls is significantly reduced are factors that might increase Pay Per Call pricing, but also increases its effectiveness.