What really matters, quality of content or a good distribution platform?

What has become a moot point and an eternal debate is who to credit for the success of any content piece. A content piece that goes out for consumption, starting from its very first stage of ideation till the distribution, goes through a lot of honing. In recent times, what has become a sore subject is to decide whether it was the quality of the content and the creator that made a piece famous among the audiences or was it the choice of the right distribution platform.

And with the ever-increasing demand of content creators across platforms, would it be right to say the platform doesn’t matter if the content creator is good enough? Or given how quality is being sought by everyone, is it just the quality of content that matters? However, the precision with which brands and agencies are choosing the right platforms for their content, the answer is still in limbo.

BuzzInContent.com discussed with various content marketing agencies and platforms to understand what exactly matters to woo audiences. Given how audiences are present across platforms, is distribution still a question because people might just migrate where the right quality content creator is present?

In recent reports published by a few media publications, content creators have been stating that it all comes down to their strength as a content creator rather than the platform they are on. And given how audiences keep shifting across platforms, from Snapchat to TikTok, or from Facebook to Instagram to follow any creator, the statement might hold some value.

Rachit Juneja

Rachit Juneja, Founder of Sheeko, said, “Yes audiences do shift. In general, it is always the quality of content that ensures the success of any piece. Content distributors now study algorithms. They have learnt that a particular content creator’s audience is present on a specific platform. Given brands are doing target advertising investing in media spends, they also cater a particular audience with what they want and knowing where they are present. A right distribution platform unleashes the real power of content.”

The audience definitely has many choices of platform and content, and yes they will go where the good content is.

Aditi Srivastava

Aditi Srivastava, Co-founder, Pocket Aces added that the platform does matter in creating a brand and buzz for the content. Content has to be created and tailored catering to a platform, and that's when it will do well on that platform. It’s the combination that works.

Experts say the success of any content piece is something that works on a case to case basis. What works for one might not for another and the same formula cannot be used for all. However, the balance of this mix totally depends on the audience focus on a content piece as well as the distribution channel. Then it should be built on that basis and this will not define a path to success entirely.

Varun Duggirala

Varun Duggirala, Co-Founder and Chief Content Officer of The Glitch, said a right mix of both a good quality content creator and a right platform decides the success of any content piece. According to him, more than two third of focus should be on quality of content but one third is eually critical.

“While the quality of the content will always be the largest deciding factor, a bad distribution plan will kill any piece of content no matter how good it is. It is 70% quality of content and 30% distribution channel that matters,” he said.

Ankur Warikoo

Ankur Warikoo, Co-founder and CEO, Nearbuy, said, “A platform allows for distribution, which is the key to vitality. The content creator, in this case, plays a critical part but not in entirety. However, content wins. Bad content cannot win over a good distribution medium. Good content can win even in a bad distribution mode.”

Quality matters to both

Quality is always of prime importance but it's about defining what is ‘good’ in terms of content for the channel and making sure that benchmark is clearly defined and the quantity of content pieces, as well as distribution outlay, are planned accordingly.

Vishal Gupta

Vishal Gupta, Co-founder and CEO, Momspresso, said quality basically is a given, whether it is for a creator or a platform. It is really the only way as far as content is concerned. Gupta said we need quality content creators but also platforms to make them discoverable. So both the quality of content and the platform matter.

But platforms with bad quality content do exist. So does that mean that no matter how big is the platform, if the quality of content is not good, it will lose its sheen over a period of time?

Juneja said quality has to be there, as it is more important than ever. Earlier there used to be stable distribution set-up. Now because there is so much content, distribution has become even more critical because the success and the failure depend on the quality. Distribution platforms are important to make good content go viral. But the merit of the content has become more important.

“I'd say content platforms with the right strategy will always be Queen. Because good content platforms today is very clear about who they are catering to and what content pieces they're making for them. And this clarity of vision is what breeds a successful platform in today’s age,” said Duggirala.

So, in short, if the content is not catering to the audience or audience behaviour on a platform, or the format that works on a platform, then the content will definitely not work.

Warikoo suggested that content platforms are a combination of active generation, eyeballs at scale and low friction to distribute. Anyone that does that will always be powerful.