Anheuser-Busch Kills Bud.tv

by David Lauterbach
2009 February 19
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Anheuser-Busch pulled the plug on it’s $15 million broadband humor site Bud.tv.

A-B’s VP-marketing Keith Levy told AdAge Bud.tv was “sunsetting.” Users going to the site now see only a snowy TV screen saying Bud.tv is no longer available. Instead, they are asked to check out Budweiser.com or BudLight.com.

Born-on dating indicates Bud.tv first appeared during the Super Bowl in 2007. The site had a mix of unbranded, original content, from reality to humor. A-B execs hoped it would draw about 2 million monthly uniques. But really tight restrictions designed to prevent under-age viewers from entering (entrants’ names were checked against a database of state-issued identification that sometimes kept even legal-age consumers out). Bud.tv ended up driving most potential users away and their traffic nose-dived about 40 percent in its second month to just 153,000 uniques.

Because of the barrier to entry, Anheuser-Busch’s CEO August Busch IV had been famously quoted online as saying “I can’t even figure out how to get into the website.”

Full story at AdAge.com.

Pardon us please, while we pay for beer...

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