This Beer Web Site Apparently Not For You – Bud.tv Viewership Tanks

After all the hoopla of a Super Bowl launch timed with a huge promotional piece in the New York Times Magazine on which you could not put a value, and a spend of some $30 - $40 million on the site itself – a drop in the beer barrel for owner Anheuser-Busch (A-B) – it looks like Bud.tv just hasn’t satisfied beer taster’s taste buds.

Company CEO August Busch IV told an investors conference call that the site would “probably fade”. And while no one seems to really understand what that means, the feeling is that it’s not good for Bud.tv, and perhaps marks it end, except that some content may find its way to other A-B web sites.

The official line from Tony Ponturo, A-B VP, Global Media: “Bud.TV is the first of its kind and it will continue to develop. Its current structure might fade away (to use his boss’ expression) as we learn more about consumer connectivity and building a social network. But we are eager to evolve Bud.TV as part of a broader digital future for our brands to reach today’s consumer.”

Its unique visitor traffic in March dropped 40% to 152,000 from February, according to comScore, and its traffic did not measure in April meaning that it was below the 100,000 threshold.

Much of the site’s difficulty has been put down to the difficulty some users – read under-age users – have in accessing the site. The site checks out every user’s application to ensure they are of drinking age, but legal officials in many states have complained that benchmark needs to be raised even further to prevent under aged from somehow sneaking in. - May 27, 2007

Keywords:brand marketing,product placement

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