Bud.tv not doing so good

In the world of social networking, community forums and the like, it has been a rather sad run for its online TV network, Bud.TV, where visitors are dropping at an alarming rate. In February, when it launched the site received 253,000 visitors, dropping to 152,000 visitors in March, a drop of 40%. The visitor drops have been collaborated by three of the most influential sites who measure traffic, ComScore Media Metrix, Quantcast and Alexa, all of whom noted a sharp drop in traffic to the site in March.

The declining audience figures appear to give further credence to earlier concerns that A-B's age-verification measures, which force users to supply information from a driver's license or other state-issued identification, are an obstacle to reaching a mass audience.

Those concerns were exacerbated when, in February, a group of state attorneys general wrote A-B a sharply worded letter telling the brewer that those measures, while more than what most other alcohol marketers offered online, weren't sufficient. The argument was that, as a content creator and purveyor, A-B had a greater burden not to market to youth than it did as simply an advertiser.