Thomson follows Miva and Yahoo! to launch pay-per-call service

LONDON - Thomson Directories is the latest company to join the pay-per-call market, putting it in competition with rivals Miva, formerly FindWhat/Espotting, and Yahoo!. Thomson Directories is planning to introduce a pay-per-call service for SME advertisers in the UK by the start of 2006, while Miva revealed that its pay-per-call model will launch in the UK on September 13. Yahoo! UK & Ireland launched a similar service in August. Jill Pringle, internet product manager for Thomson Directories, commented: "We see pay-per-call as a natural fit with our SME advertiser offer." The model, which Miva chief marketing officer Seb Bishop says "has the potential to be bigger than pay-per-click", allows search advertisers to pay for phone calls rather than clickthroughs. Miva's system will let advertisers bid on keywords to have their phone number listed alongside standard paid-for search results. They are then charged for each call they receive. Yahoo!'s model charges search advertisers a fixed rate for calls. Both take users through to a landing page with more details of the advertiser and links to their web sites where they have one.