USA: Anheuser-Busch refreshes Bud.TV

If the $20 million project fails to pick up by year's end, Anheuser-Busch may pull the plug, says Tony Ponturo, vice president of global media, according to USA Today, May 04.

The site features more than 2,000 minutes of proprietary video including stand-up comedy clips, a guys' makeover show and "The Joe Buck Show," in which the sports commentator interviews celebrities in a New York City cab.

In February, its first month, the site drew 250,000 unique visitors; the number dropped to 153,000 in March, according to Web tracker ComScore. Early results for April indicate a continued downturn.

So far, the site has gotten the most attention not from Web surfers but from government officials and interest groups worried the site will lure under-21 visitors.

A major brake on site use so far has been the age verification required to register and enter. Wanting to avoid charges of promoting underage drinking, A-B requires a screen name, e-mail address and password, plus name, date of birth and ZIP code as they appear on the user's driver's license. The data are checked against records, a process that can take up to 60 seconds. No exact match, no admittance.

While that held down visitors, more than 20 state attorneys general recently sent A-B a letter demanding harder registration.

Meanwhile, some site visitors have said the clips could be livelier, the technology more cutting-edge and sharing easier.

A-B is trying to up the ante with new video, networking features that make sharing with friends easier, an option for users to rate videos and a desktop application that eases downloading Bud video and then uploading to Web sites.

"We have some hurdles to overcome that were probably staring at us when we started," Ponturo says. "They are becoming more and more obvious as we develop over time. The overall project is much bigger and more involved than we thought."

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