My colleague Jessie Kernan sent me an interesting story last week about CBS’ acquisition of a London-based start-up called Last.fm. Claiming to have a user base of 15M, Last.fm blends social networking with music. It certainly looks like a good fit for CBS. Given all the Web 2.0 acquisitions of late, CBS was a little late to this party, but better late than never for the storied media company. It was an even better deal for Last.fm’s three young founders who split $280M on the deal.

But, what stood out for Jessie and me in the story was the quote by CBS’s CEO Les Moonves, who said: "Last.fm is a huge step in CBS’ overall strategy of expanding our reach online to transition from a content company into an audience company."

To which Jessie and I let out a collective, "huh?!" Say that again, Les?

We were nonplussed by Moonves’ statement, to say the least. Now, I can understand the logic that he seems to be using. CBS, like other media companies, makes money on advertising. And the advertising model demands that you deliver big audiences to marketers, who pay dearly to reach them. Moonves’ quote was a little like saying "we are a customer driven company." On its face, there is nothing wrong with that philosophy.

Of course, however, CBS does not have an audience without content that is interesting, relevant, entertaining, timely and compelling. Last.fm did not build a user base to 15M just by itself. They did it by creating content (the ability to network online with other people who also like to share and enjoy music) that people wanted and valued. So, why would CBS’ CEO want to recast his company as an "audience company" rather than sticking to that which brung him to the dance in the first place? It’s content!

Moonves’ comments sound to us like the proverbial putting the cart before the horse. And a lot of media and marketing companies are making the same mistake these days.

As I have said numerous times on this site — it really is all about the content. And great content starts with great ideas. Everything else is just channels and delivery systems (and even less critical, technology). Ultimately, audiences are essential. Media companies need to attract and keep those audiences, or they die. And they accomplish that with their content. The media quickly find out if the content is working, or not, as the audiences vote with their feet (or, to be more precise, their clicks).

The breadth and depth of content options available today via every conceivable delivery and media option is daunting. Which makes it that much more difficult for Les Moonves and the other media moguls to find, attract and keep the audiences that are their currency to bring in advertisers. That requires Les and team to create even better, more exciting, entertaining and valuable content. Presumably that is why CBS acquired Last.fm, because that little start-up understood how to create and aggregate the content that a lot of young people in the UK want to consume in large quantities. But, it still is about the content. Without the content, Last.fm would be just another struggling Web company, or out of business altogether.

For marketers, this content discussion is more important than ever. As we now try (and sometimes struggle) to figure out how to reach and engage consumers and customers — especially in an environment of so many content choices — we need to be sure to focus on the right things. A good starting point for doing so is almost laughably simple: Create marketing content that is relevant, timely, interesting, useful, entertaining and engaging. Get that right, and then you can worry about channels, media choices and delivery systems.

Note to Les Moonves and all my fellow marketers trying to make sense of the new media world: It all starts with the content. And the building blocks of great content are big ideas.

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