.tv Bud.TV "may fade away" later this year

[eyedomainous]

As I announced Bud.Tv on this forum, its fitting that I post this news item... in an article that questions online Branding in general:

Has Branded Content Jumped the Shark?
"The failure of Bud.tv, A-B's online branded entertainment showcase, represented another setback for the branded medium. August Busch IV, A-B's CEO, admitted to analysts last week that the program, launched in February, "may fade away" later this year. Anheuser-Busch had budgeted about $30 million for Bud.tv.

Just as the fewer number of placements could be explained by the rise of dramas, many pinned the blame for Bud.tv on Anheuser-Busch's execution (not to mention a restrictive registration process to weed out consumers under 21) and said the idea of such a branded entertainment effort is still viable.

Angela Calman, president of Calman Media, a marketing consultancy in Washington, noted that A-B didn't do any community-building for Bud.tv on the Web. "The problem is you have some decent content but if it's just a hodgepodge—a shot of a beer bottle here, shows that appeal to this demographic there and let's throw in some celebrities—you have to remember this is not a passive medium. Within 20-30 seconds worth of video, if it hasn't grabbed you, people move onto the next video."

 

[MillersCrossing]

Not surprising really..........

The whole campaign was half hearted from the start in their blink and you'll miss it superbowl commercial....

A real shame, think I'll send them in an offer for the name for $50...and talk them down to a half hearted $25.....

 

[DomainBuyerBroker]

In order to get into the site you had to submit age verification AND address verification.

Just to see some bud commercials? I think not.

So, to me this is not a .TV failure. This is a web site design and business model failure. Really has nothing to do with .tv but I did read some "see I told you so" posts on another forum.

 

[Len]

I agree completely! This is NOT a .tv failure. It is a business management failure on behalf of Anheuser-Busch! What on earth did they expect when there are so many hoops to jump through just to look at beer commercials?
I am puzzled as to why they should do such a thing. Was it pressed on them by some government dept in the States?? It really is nonsense that you have to be 21yrs to see the site. You can see beer for sale in almost every supermarket in the states. You don't have to be 21yrs to walk down those isles do you!!
Oh what I could have done with $30million!!!

 

[localexperts]

Looks like BUD.TV did not learn the same lesson several .COMs did a few years ago.

One Super Bowl ad does not make a campaign.

 

[huckour]

The mistake was that they put budget for bud.tv and not in [URL=http://www.netmedia.tv]bad.tv[/URL] as the should. just kidding...

Give me 30mil and i will do miracles.

 

[localexperts]

I had one competitor with $60M in the late 90s, they ran TV ads with maids wrestling with one another, and now I own the domain

Movng a TV audience to online don't work unless you blitz them like Priceline.

Heck look at NBC with Snap.com and ABC with Go.com. They couldn't even make their own sites work.

 

[localexperts]

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[smashfactory]

even as this happens- i was looking thru me.tv yesteday while i had no stinkin email or site to work on-
and along with carson daly i saw that dave coullier (?) from Full House, has his own .tv-CleanGuys.tv (now there is a "brandable" name)
another known face in the .tv game- its all good-
tommy lee has quite the site also