Budweiser’s “King of Beers” Title Takes Another Hit

January 26, 2018 – Budweiser has suffered a lot of indignities in the last few years.  First it was cannibalized by its offspring Bud Light, which took the top spot as America’s favorite beer.  In 2011, it lost its second place status to Coors Light. The latest put down comes courtesy of Miller Lite which is now third in popularity.  The stats were based on year ends sales for 2017 by Beer Marketer and it is the first time since tracking started in the 1970s that Budweiser was not in the top three. 

Now in fourth place, attempts by AB-InBev to drive its American heritage by putting Budweiser on one side of the can and America on the other has not stemmed the tide as the whole beer category struggles with falling sales.  As Advertising Age put it, “….the competition among America’s top brews has devolved into a contest of who can fall the slowest, rather than actually grow, as craft beers and spirits continue to give big brands problems.”

Another factor in the mix is millennials who are less interested in beer and who, unlike GenX-ers before them, have not adopted Budweiser as a favorite brand and are therefore less likely to recommend it.

However Bud Light is still in first place with 15.4 percent of the market while its nearest rival, Coors Light is a distant second with 7.6 percent market share.