According to an AdAge article published today, Anheuser-Busch’s online, broadband channel Bud.tv, saw traffic to its site drop by 40% in March, compared to February, the site’s launch month. Critics cite the age-verification filter as the reason for the loss of traffic, while Anheuser-Busch officials wring their hands over how to balance the appearance of social responsibility with the appearance of more traffic to their site.Here’s a suggestion: How about uploading some actually good content? It’s been a chore for me to sift through the Bud.tv offerings. I have no desire to write a review because I don’t know enough different ways to say bad, lousy or awful. And I speak two point five languages….
…Seriously though, paraphrasing Simon Cowell’s recent compliment to Sanjaya, Bud.tv is not horrible. In terms of hits to misses, the site has a higher percentage of hits than YouTube. Unlike YouTube, Bud.tv programs are professionally produced and acted out by veteran actors. On any given day, YouTube videos are no better than the worst of public access cable.
What makes people return to YouTube again and again is the sheer fact that there are millions videos available. Each hints at the inkling of the notion of the concept of the idea that a site surfer might just mine that one diamond from all that dreck and start the viral daisy chain blooming.
Frankly the paucity of content on Bud.tv is embarrassing. Anheuser-Busch anticipates pouring 30-40 million dollars into its broadband channel and yet most of the programs still have the same number of webisodes now as last February. Unique site visitors can eyeball the whole Bud.tv lineup in one 60-minute surfing, or in 3-4, ten to fifteen-minute coffee breaks.
Bud.tv execs openly fret that the money invested is money pissed away. They have every reason to worry. Beer giant Anheuser-Busch is learning the harsh lesson today that electronics giant Sony learned in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s, when it bought a Hollywood studio. Money can buy you the distribution channel, but money cannot guarantee content quality or content quantity either.
