BloggingStocks http://www.bloggingstocks.com BloggingStocks http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/media/feedlogo.gif BloggingStocks http://www.bloggingstocks.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Anheuser Busch beats dead horse -- no, not the Clydesdale]]>http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/05/30/anheuser-busch-beats-dead-horse-no-not-the-clydesdale/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/05/30/anheuser-busch-beats-dead-horse-no-not-the-clydesdale/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/05/30/anheuser-busch-beats-dead-horse-no-not-the-clydesdale/#commentsFiled under: , ,

To my surprise, Anheuser-Busch (NYSE:BUD) has apparently decided to push, rather than pull, its moribund Bud.tv web site. According today's Wall Street Journal (subscription required), the brewer plans to inject the site with edgier content in hopes of luring back the hundreds of thousands who tasted the limited access site and spat it out.

After peaking at a quarter million unique visitors in February following a Superbowl ad,, the site has fallen to numbers below comScore's threshold for reporting (100,000). The company had been shooting for 3-5 million. Ouch.

The site came under criticism from attorneys general across the country, who weren't satisfied with the viewer verification process and feared youngsters would be exposed to advertising for alcohol (horrors!) In response, the company dialed up the registration process to a point beyond many people's (well, mine at least) tolerance level.

Despite a $30 million budget, the site has failed to retain viewers, and most analysts expected the company to pull the plug. Their suspicions seemed to be confirmed last week when the CEO said that the site would 'fade' in the last half of '07.

Anheuser Busch, apparently convinced the problem lies in content, decided instead to try again, promising to provide more targeted and interesting features, to become the go-to aggregator of beer-related entertainment.

I don't agree with its thinking, though. We internet viewers are a fickle lot, and the slightest impediment to their browsing is enough to send us away. If the site retains its barrier to entry, the content will have to be freaking fantastic to capture its target audience.

Anheuser Busch beats dead horse -- no, not the Clydesdale originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 30 May 2007 15:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Viacom Inc. (NYSE:VIA) will be in no mood to celebrate at this year's upfronts but will have to put on a smile and fake it.

The upfronts are gatherings in which networks talk up their upcoming season to advertisers. The parties are great. There's lots of free food, free food and free stuff. Beneath the frivolity, there's serious business negotiations going on about advertising prices. This is where things get tricky for Viacom.

As yesterday's fourth-quarter results illustrate, Viacom isn't in a strong bargaining position. Wall Street was pretty underwhelmed too. The company had profit of $480.8 million, or 69 cents per share. Excluding one-time charges, profit was 65 cents. Revenue rose 32 cents for $3.59 billion. The results beat analysts' forecasts but concerns about growth tempered people's enthusiasm and the stock fell.

Blogging Stocks readers were divided. Forty-one percent expected Viacom to post disappointing results. It turns out that everyone was right.

The reason for investors' unease is simple: people just don't want their MTV. The performance of the cable business disappointed Wall Street and things aren't going to get better soon. Interestingly, Reuters points out that Viacom doesn't use the "C word" any more. They are now "media networks." Get it.

Perhaps the experts who were expecting a healthy cable upfront may have been too optimistic, though cable keeps snagging audience away from the broadcast networks. The bigger problem is that the Internet is stealing audience from cable. These are the young, hip viewers who advertisers covet. MTV has recently laid off workers and reorganized its sales force to better focus on the Internet.

For now, the company is very much in the TV business and that's a problem.

Continue reading Viacom won't feel much like partying at the upfronts

Viacom won't feel much like partying at the upfronts originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 02 Mar 2007 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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