My parents never felt that I was college 'material'. [=that I was someone who should go to college]
Her boss regards her as executive 'material'. [=as someone who would make a good executive]
The comedian gets his 'material' from things that have happened to him.
(..) Here's the weird thing about search engines. It was like striking oil in a world that hadn't invented internal combustion. Too much raw material. Nobody knew what to do with it. You see, my competitors, they were fixated on sucking it up and monetizing via shopping (..)2014 Ex Machina