The CTV Television Network is talking for the second time to an automotive company about its proposed viewer response service.

Drew Williams, director of marketing for ctv, says there is a ‘real possibility’ the network and an unamed car maker will come together to place a 1-900 service number at the end of the auto company’s tv commercials.

Viewers interested in the product advertised can call the 1-900 number to obtain more information about price, availability, technical specifications, and so on.

Williams says it could be ‘next month’ or ‘next spring’ when the 1-900 number begins.

He says ctv has been talking about the service for a year, and had discussions with financial institutions, breweries – because of its database potential – and automakers.

NBC practice

He says that with the proposed service, ctv has picked up on what nbc is doing in the u.s.

There, he says the American network is running a 1-800 number at the end of tv spots aired during its Saturday sports programming.

According to Williams, the 1-800 number in the u.s. is a free call, so the cost is passed along to the advertiser.

In Canada, ctv’s proposed 1-900 service will cost each caller 75 cents to discourage unqualified calls and to lay off some of the service’s costs.

Williams says advertisers paying from $1 to $3 a call is not untypical.

He estimates the overall response rate by an average audience of one million is less than 1%.

He says tv direct response works more efficiently with ‘low [audience] involvement programming’ than with primetime shows because viewers are less apt to use commercial breaks to trot to the bathroom.