The Results are in...Bud TV Falls

So the results on the very widely watched (at least from a results standpoint) are in. Bud.TV viewership peaked at 253,000 visitors in February and has now dropped to 152,000 unique visitors good enough for ranking number 49,303 on the web according to ComScore Media Metrix. Bud execs were hoping for between 2 million and 3 million viewers on the online network which cost about $30 million. There's been a huge controversy over Bud TV's age verification scheme which asks you to put your drivers license since the attorneys did not want the alcohol manufacturer to actively market to underage adults and teens. However, despite this, Bud TV's free clips on YouTube have received little traffic with a few exceptions.

So the branded television network does not seem to work. Although 150,000 visitors is not bad, granted with a $30 million spend they should have received more. Personally I haven't watched any of Bud TV's clips until this post. Replaced by a Chimp and Afterworld are two shows that I've watched on YouTube. They are not bad although Afterworld seems like more of a slide show than a movie. There is no visible product placement except for the Bud TV logo in the corner. I'm not sure why they are not receiving the views that they were supposed to be receiving especially with all the hype surrounding it. Embedding is disabled for Afterworld, but I don't think that's the issue. I think one of the issues could be the pacing and the length of the shows. On average each show is about 3 minutes, where as Prom Queen is two minutes, although we don't know how Prom Queen is doing yet. "What Girls Want" is pushing 7 to 8 minutes! Replaced by a Chimp also adds about a third to its run time by putting their credits on as a post roll. While viewers probably click off at this point, potential viewers could be dissuaded by such a long run time. OR could it be just a critical mass thing? OR could this really be the Long Tail? Afterworld in YouTube terms is still in the top 10 subscribed and viewed. MySpace took a while to take off, maybe Bud TV needs to just keep at it and eventually a "tipping point" will occur? We'll be watching.