In this article, Gonzalo Acha, VSN's Marketing Communications Manager, analyses how the new Long Tail business model, widely develop by companies such as Amazon, can be successfully applied to the Broadcast and Media & Entertainment industries to open new ways of monetizing content and reaching new audiences.
We all know Amazon. The giant e-commerce corporation has become part of our lives and keeps expanding its services and capabilities every year, offering a variety of cloud services, digital content, cultural products and even supermarket goods. It has created a new business model of its own, based on the Long Tail concept and the advances in logistics and technology, that has proven to be a huge success around the world.
What can the Broadcast and Media & Entertainment industries learn from this new business model? The answer is simple: quite a lot.
But let's start with the basics. What is exactly the Long Tail?
The concept rose to fame in 2004 thanks to an article written for Wired Magazine by his Editor-in-Chief at the time, Chris Anderson. He wrote about how companies, such as Amazon, Apple or Yahoo!, were getting very popular thanks to developing a strategy based on the long tail . This, in a few words, meant that this companies were focusing on selling more quantity of less popular items. These unique sales of uncommon items, amounted together, turned out to be a crucial part of the global sales of the companies.
This means that it is not necessary anymore to offer only the most popular and best-selling products. Thanks to technology, e-commerce and the improvement of delivery services (both physical and digital), it is possible, basically without geographical or physical restrictions, to increase sales by supplying new niches that in the previous traditional business models were out of reach.
Internet's immediate and global access to virtually everything has given traditionally secondary audiences access to its favourite products. Those unknown and obscure indie bands from the 80s can now be offered at the same time and same place as the latest Taylor Swift album. And it works. Everything can be offered on the Internet at a very reduced cost, and the improvement of logistics have turned the fantasy of immediate delivery into an everyday reality.
How can we apply this concept of the Long Tail to the Broadcast and M&E industry? No matter if we talk about a Broadcaster or about any other type of media company or corporation, the Long Tail means that media archives can be leveraged and monetized as never before thanks to the new existing technology, the irruption of second screens and smart devices and the changes in the audience's consumption patterns.
And how do we do that? Any media company usually have thousands of hours of recorded video in either tapes in a well-stored room or, if the company is already a step ahead, in digital archive or storage (or even in the cloud!). All this audiovisual content can be segmented, tagged and classified depending on its topic. For example, a sports channel could segment all the goals scored by a certain football player of a well-known team in the 70s, edit it and put it on new platforms as YouTube, its own Webpage or its WebTV service. This content could be accessed, viewed and shared in social media from any part of the world by users looking for that particular player from their tablets, smartphones or computers.
That way, a media resource that was condemned to be archived and forgotten is given a second chance of reaching potential audiences around the world, at a very reduced costs thanks to the Internet and digital improvements in video distribution and the popularization of online video consumption. This can be done with daily produced content (for example, news, talk shows, etc.), movies, series, recorded sport events and whatever content is stored at the company's archive, no matter its topic since on the Internet there will always be users looking for it.
Any media company implementing this strategy will need to face some initial costs, specially in order to deploy an efficient Media Asset Management (MAM) system and an optimized WebTV platform for digital video distribution, but the return of this investment usually comes in a few months after deployment. Its benefits go beyond an improved offer for potential audiences, since it also gives greater awareness to the company in search results, putting its entire library at the reach of thousands of millions of digital users, while being as easy to monetize and synchronize as a simple ad server.
At VSN, we truly believe in empowering the Long Tail for the Broadcast and Media & Entertainment industries, and we have worked intensely to make our systems the ultimate platform to monetize the media archive of any client. For more than ten years, VSNEXPLORER, VSN's media management solution, has lead the way in the industry and it is ready to meet the needs of modern audiovisual companies and to implement the Long Tail business model, that is here to stay and whose importance will only rise in years to come.
Gonzalo Acha Marketing Communications Manager
Google+
LinkedIn
Twitter
Facebook
Related News
VSN celebrates its 25th Anniversary in the Media &...
Manuel Escribano, VSN's CTO: The idea...
VSN's Business Intelligence is highlighted at the ...
VSN consolidates its international expansion with ...
-- --
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
15/10/2025
Across the world, early-career reporters are interrogating systems that shape daily life, from mortuaries and classrooms to the corridors of legal education and...
15/10/2025
St. Louis Blues Pay Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne in New Pregame Open VideoThe NHL franchise worked with production firms 2WEI and 4th Floor CreativeBy Mark J Burns,...
15/10/2025
Cobalt Digital, G3DVu, Proxima Vision, and Telos Alliance Renew Premier Sponsors...
15/10/2025
By Paige Bethmann
Before my grandmother passed away in 2019, I went to visit her in the hospital where she'd been for a few weeks. When I arrived, the nurs...
15/10/2025
Two years ago, Spotify set out to grow the entire publishing industry by making ...
15/10/2025
People turn to DJ for a listening experience that feels personal, dynamic, and j...
15/10/2025
Las personas recurren a DJ para vivir una experiencia de escucha personal, din m...
15/10/2025
Rock legend Bruce Springsteen and luminary actor Jeremy Allen White came togethe...
15/10/2025
At Spotify, we're all about supporting rising talent and helping them connec...
15/10/2025
New SBS Documentary Series THE CANCER KILLERS Premieres 4 November on SBS & SBS ...
15/10/2025
SBS celebrates the Festivals of Lights with bold, illuminating stories across th...
15/10/2025
One of humanity's most profound questions continues: Is there any place in our galaxy suitable for life beyond Earth? NASA intends to find out, with the hel...
15/10/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
15/10/2025
Scality, a global leader in cyber-resilient storage software for the AI era, today announced the advancement of its comprehensive AI ecosystem certification pro...
15/10/2025
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) today unveiled key highlights of the 2026 HPA Tech Retreat, scheduled for Feb. 15 19 at the Westin Rancho Mirage Go...
15/10/2025
At NAB Show New York 2025 (Stand 244), Interra Systems will showcase the future of media QC, monitoring, and captioning, highlighting its award-winning, AI- and...
15/10/2025
Grass Valley today announced that RMC BFM, part of the CMA-CGM Group and France's third-largest private media group, has chosen Grass Valley's productio...
15/10/2025
Appear, the global leader in live production technology, will demonstrate how its powerful hardware and software innovations are shaping the future of hybrid, s...
15/10/2025
Rakim to Join Berklee's Hip-Hop Hall of Fame at Signature Series Concert The rap icon becomes the latest inductee, following luminaries such as Roxanne Sh...
15/10/2025
Berklee Brings Live Music to the Head of the Charles Student artists will perform on multiple riverfront stages during the 60th anniversary of the world's...
15/10/2025
CobbTV, the government access television channel for Cobb County, Ga. recently acquired an automated playout system from Pebble, a global provider of automation...
15/10/2025
OSLO, Norway Appear, the global leader in live production technology, will demonstrate how its powerful hardware and software innovations are shaping the future...
15/10/2025
NEW YORK The NBA is making major changes to the NBA App and NBA TV as it takes control of them from TNT Sports, which has long managed the league's digital ...
15/10/2025
SAN MATEO, Calif. In what promises to be a major expansion of interactive features and personalized content on the DirecTV platform, the operator and Glance hav...
15/10/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Roku has launched changes to its user interface (UI) that the streaming platform says will better showcase original programming on the platform...
15/10/2025
LOS ANGELES Software-defined data storage and data services provider OpenDrives has elevated Alex Dunfey to chief technology officer, responsible for driving th...
15/10/2025
Abu Dhabi, UAE October 15, 2025: Space42 (ADX: SPACE42), the UAE-based AI-powe...
15/10/2025
Sheldon Nichols and Will Trickett to find and prepare more classic cars for budget conscious would-be owners from Wiser Films
UKTV have recommissioned the clas...
15/10/2025
Wednesday 15 October 2025
Nick Cave
JPEG (275 KB)
Explore the creative univer...
15/10/2025
Wednesday 15 October 2025
From breaking up with your partner to quitting your job - new polling shows some messages are just too scary to send
Over a fifth (...
15/10/2025
Rohde & Schwarz unveils compact MXO 3 oscilloscopes with 4 and 8 channels: Advan...
15/10/2025
Back to All News
Revenge Series The Resurrected' Captivates Audiences Across Asia
Entertainment
15 October 2025
GlobalTaiwan
Link copied to clipboard
...
15/10/2025
Back to All News
Bringing the Best in VFX and Virtual Production Together as Eyeline
Jeffrey Shapiro
CEO, Eyeline
Business
15 October 2025
GlobalCanadaInd...
15/10/2025
Deployed by Astound Business Solutions, Harmonic's Primary Distribution Solution Ensures Outstanding Video Quality and Seamless Ad Insertion at the Edge
SA...
15/10/2025
Collaboration extends a trusted relationship as RMC BFM invests in scalable, fut...
15/10/2025
Series coming in 2026 stars Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Justine Mitchell and Jason O'Mara released today
RT today released first look images of new comedy-drama ...
14/10/2025
SVG Europe Summit 2025: All Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAYNetworking event that preceded IBC2025 shone a light on elite live sports innovation acro...
14/10/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Author Rich Podolsky on Writing Madden & Summerall: How They Revo...
14/10/2025
SVG All-Stars: Michael Reiners, Coordinating Producer, FloRacingThe Illinois State grad steers a vast schedule of motorsports events at tracks across the countr...
14/10/2025
Content protection: Getting the right management for your DRM By Neal Romanek
Friday, October 10, 2025 - 10:11
Print This Story
Eluvio power the EPCR'...
14/10/2025
As League Takes Over Ops, NBA TV and NBA App Add 60 Games, Weekday Studio Show, ...
14/10/2025
Time and effort: World's largest student-led broadcast prepares to go On Air...
14/10/2025
(L-R) Guest, Kimberly Robinson Jones, Geeta Gandbhir, Pamela Dias, and Takema Ro...
14/10/2025
Lossless ist jetzt mit Spotify Premium verf gbar.
Verlustfreies Audio war eine...
14/10/2025
La qualit Lossless est disponible sur Spotify Premium.
Le format sans perte de...
14/10/2025
For the seventh edition of Spotify and FC Barcelona's artist jersey series, ...
14/10/2025
Spotify is committed to bringing the best listening experience to all our users, and that includes parents and families. That's why we're expanding mana...
14/10/2025
Since its debut, the Spotify Original podcast Caso 63 has been more than just a story; it's been a cultural sensation. The science fiction thriller captivat...
In this article, Gonzalo Acha, VSN's Marketing Communications Manager, analyses how the new Long Tail business model, widely develop by companies such as Amazon, can be successfully applied to the Broadcast and Media & Entertainment industries to open new ways of monetizing content and reaching new audiences. 
