Bud.tv flat but it won't be scrapped

Bud.tv is barely treading water with visitor numbers dwindling, but Anheuser-Busch doesn't intend giving up on its online video site just yet.

by Helen Leggatt

I really didn’t think I would still be reporting on Anheuser-Busch’s (A-B) Bud.tv months after I first reported that its performance was well under par. And I really didn’t expect the online video site to be around during 2008.

However, A-B has announced that it will continue to fund the struggling online video site for another year, despite having already spent $20-$30 million on it to date. After attracting around 250,000 unique visitors at launch, around 50,000 to 100,000 now visit Bud.tv each month, but A-B intends to learn from the experience and develop the site.

"We have to keep evolving it," said Tony Ponturo, president and CEO of global media and sports marketing at A-B's Busch Media Group. "We need to work better on getting traffic and relatable content. We're also trying to find ways to create a dialogue with the consumer so there's a chance for chat and text. We need to build that platform out a little bit more."

A-B is obviously committed to building on their online content and are reportedly increasing their overall online spend by around 30 to 50 percent this year.