Advantage West Midlands has robustly defended its funding of regional business news service BizTV, after it was criticised as a waste of money.
The regional development agency dismissed claims made by lobby group The Tax Payer's Alliance (TPA) the service was too costly as "utter nonsense" and "unfounded".
According to information obtained by TPA under the Freedom of Information Act, BizTV, which offers to produce free videos for West Midland businesses, received £3.6 million between December 2003 and September 2007. This included production, editing, design, web hosting and distribution.
Despite initially making an incorrect claim the money was spent in the last nine months, TPA spokeswoman Fiona McEvoyon said £3.6 million over five years was too much.
Ms McEvoyon said: "I am still concerned AWM is spending this amount on a website that, in my opinion, is seeing a low amount of hits. This is an organisation that has invested heavily in a network many people in the region seem to be completely unaware of.
"Surely there are more practicable ways taxpayer money can be spent to support businesses."
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According to the information obtained by the TPA, BizTV attracts 850 unique users a month.
The site provides a showcase for videos it produces, including videos of business events and interviews with business people. It hosts promotional videos produced by companies and provides business pictures and regional news.
A spokesman for AWM said the agency whole-heartedly supported the work of BizTV and Ms McEvoyon's allegations were unfounded.
He said: "The fact Ms McEvoyon's original spending claim was incorrect demonstrates she does not understand BizTV or what it does. I'm shocked the TPA could make such a glaring error.
"We are very happy with BizTV. It is a superb service and has provided very significant help to small businesses. It has given small firms a video platform which they have been able to use to promote themselves in the 海角视频 and abroad.
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"Our confidence in the service is demonstrated by the fact BizTV has secured further funding.
AWM gave the example of Birmingham-based business Willearn, which used BizTV to create a promotional video for security product DoorDefender.
The AWM spokesman said: "DoorDefender has gone on to great things, winning a number of contracts and awards. Now that is not all down to the BizTV video, but it has certainly made a contribution."
AWM also defended the hit rate of the website and suggested TPA had little knowledge of how it compared to other sites.
But one local multimedia expert, who did not wish to be named, agreed that the amount of money allocated to the BizTV project seemed exceptionally large.
He said: "I'm staggered at the cost. Looking at what they do, to think they've spent £3.6 million in five years is absolutely astounding.
"I have been mentoring two students that are just about to put their high-quality videos up onto YouTube. Within months I expect them to get more hits than BizTV has got in years and all for minimum cost."