Drinkers didn’t tap in to Bud.TV

Published 6:18 pm Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Bud.TV, we hardly knew you.

After about two years, Anheuser-Busch has put the lid on Bud.TV, an online TV network that aimed for the brewer’s fans with serial shows, standup comedy and other content.

Bud.TV cost about $15 million to start in 2007 and never secured the 3 million visitors per month it was after, said Keith Levy, vice president of marketing. In fact, the audience fell way short of that, he said, though he didn’t provide current numbers.

From early on, Bud.TV had trouble attracting fans in an increasingly cluttered online world; it drew 253,000 visitors in its first month, tapering off to 152,000 a month later. It shut down last week. Visitors now see a message thanking them for stopping by and suggesting they visit sites for the brewer’s two biggest brands, Bud Light and Budweiser.

Associated Press