The Australian today publishes a lengthy article in which 5 questions were put to Australian media corporate leaders.

Amongst the questions was “Is content more important than ever in a digital world? And if so, how big a problem is piracy?”

Here are some edited responses.

Grant Blackley, TEN:
Content is vital – always has been and always will be. It’s what drives engagement, loyalty, inquiry and investment. It’s the foundation on which all other opportunities are built – including the creation of distribution rights and channels. Diversification of a content portfolio is also crucial given cyclic factors, geographic differences and the need to balance the cost of individual rights.

Angelos Frangopoulos – Sky News:
It is all about content. End of story. The device just makes content more accessible and more convenient giving consumers greater choice. If it isn’t quality content then you’re wasting your time. Stealing is still a problem so it’s up to us (the entire media industry) to ensure that we have rock solid digital rights management regimes while making it easier to legally consume our services.

Ian Law, PBL (Nine):
The proliferation of delivery platforms and the consequent fragmentation of audiences has meant the economics of each media model are being truly tested. For example, in television, far greater scrutiny is now being applied to the real value per ratings point of content than was ever the case before. Take for example, the rating in television. GTV 9 in Melbourne has won 11 of the past 14 weeks even though it does not have the broadcast rights to AFL. The reality is that viewers today are now used to foraging further for the type of material they want and as a result the audience is spread more widely across a range of delivery platforms. The Melbourne TV example shows that a marquee sporting code is not necessarily the guarantee of ratings success and economic success. We are now in an era where a low cost rerun of a television series can attract an audience equal to the audience of a major sporting code.

David Leckie, Seven:
Content is everything. The great thing about Channel 7 and our partners is that we are going to produce more and more content where we own all the rights.

John Porter, Austar:
No. Still just as important, particularly quality content and exclusivity. However, where content is increasingly commoditised, the aggregator with the best user interface, technology and pricing model, who makes easily accessible an increasingly fragmented world, wins.

Kim Williams, Foxtel:
The old adage “Content is King, Distribution is Queen” still applies but with a contemporary digital twist. In the digital world people want much more choice over their content than ever before and they also want it distributed across multiple platforms, accessible through interfaces that are simple and intuitive to use and provided over devices that allow them to watch it when they want.

There is a lot more to this worthwhile article which you can check at The Australian.