History of pay-per-call

From paypercall.wiki, the free encyclopedia
Main article: Pay-per-call

This page sets out the documented history of pay-per-call marketing in the United States.[1][2] Many events in the industry's development, including the founding years of most networks and the first use of the term in its current sense, have not been confirmed from primary sources and are omitted rather than guessed; they are listed on the What we do not know page.

Timeline

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  • 20 December 1991The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (Pub. L. 102–243) is enacted, restricting calls made with automatic dialing systems or artificial or prerecorded voices to mobile numbers without prior express consent and creating a private right of action with US$500 statutory damages per violation, trebled for wilful violations.[1]
  • 2012REPORTED Retreaver is founded in Morristown, New Jersey, according to CB Insights, which lists Jason Kay as chief executive.[3]
  • 2016REPORTED Ringba is founded in Dover, Delaware, according to CB Insights, which lists Adam Young as founder and chief executive; Young describes the platform as built around real-time bidding for calls.[3][4]
  • December 2019The TRACED Act is signed into law, leading the FCC to require STIR/SHAKEN caller-ID authentication from large carriers by 30 June 2021 and from smaller and rural carriers by 30 June 2023.[5]
  • 10 September 2021Ringba publishes a Pay Per Call Report using OfferVault market data that ranks home services, insurance, legal, personal insurance and lawyer as the top categories, and Lead Smart, HyperTarget Marketing, eLocal, Aragon Advertising and MarketCall as the top five networks, all of which it says are Ringba customers.[2]
  • 2023The FCC adopts the one-to-one consent rule, under which consent to telemarketing robocalls and robotexts must be given to one seller at a time and calls must be "logically and topically associated" with the interaction that prompted the consent; the effective date is set for 27 January 2025.[6][7][8]
  • 24 January 2025The FCC postpones the effective date to 26 January 2026; the same day, the Eleventh Circuit vacates the rule in Insurance Marketing Coalition v. FCC, holding that the FCC exceeded its authority because "prior express consent" carries its ordinary meaning.[8][7][9][10]
  • 2025–2026REPORTED The FCC deletes the vacated language and reverts to the prior consent standard; a delayed rule on consent revocation is scheduled for 31 January 2027.[11]
  • 2026Platform vendors market AI-based call scoring and real-time bidding as standard features, and trade guides describe pay-per-call as consolidating around high-intent verticals and buyers demanding consent proof.[12][13]
  • 2026Business of Apps updates its pay-per-call network directory on 8 September 2026, and OfferVault runs a survey for its 2026 summer ranking of networks.[14][15]

Earlier uses of the term

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UNKNOWN The phrase "pay-per-call" was earlier used for premium-rate telephone services, and directory advertising has long been sold on a per-call basis; the editors have not yet located a source that dates the first use of the term for the performance-marketing model described on this site, so no date is given.[14]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "47 U.S. Code § 227 – Restrictions on use of telephone equipment". Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  2. ^ a b "The Pay Per Call Report – September 10, 2021". Ringba. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  3. ^ a b "Retreaver vs Ringba". CB Insights. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  4. ^ "Adding a New Channel: Get Started with Pay Per Call (fireside chat with Adam Young)". Everflow. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  5. ^ "STIR/SHAKEN". Wikipedia. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  6. ^ "Eleventh Circuit Vacates the FCC's One-to-One Consent Rule". Kaufman Dolowich. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  7. ^ a b "Eleventh Circuit Vacates FCC's TCPA One-to-One Consent Rule". Morrison Foerster. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  8. ^ a b "Lead Generators Get Eleventh-Hour Reprieve From One-to-One Consent Rule". Olshan Frome Wolosky. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  9. ^ "Telephone and Texting Compliance News: Litigation Update". Mintz. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  10. ^ "Eleventh Circuit Vacates FCC's One-to-One Consent Rule". Day Pitney. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  11. ^ "TCPA 2026: consent, revocation, and the vacated one-to-one rule". ComplianceHub.wiki. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  12. ^ "Pay Per Call Tracking Software". CallScaler. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  13. ^ "Pay Per Call Affiliate Marketing Statistics". AffNinja. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  14. ^ a b "Pay Per Call Affiliate Networks". Business of Apps. Retrieved 10 September 2026.
  15. ^ "2026 Summer Top Pay Per Call Networks survey". OfferVault. Retrieved 10 September 2026.