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In response to U.S. consumers’ shifting viewing habits, television networks, movie studios, and content distributors are betting on personalization to keep audiences engaged.

You could say it started with “Breaking Bad.” From the first cryptic scene in the pilot episode, the show became as addictive for viewers as the methamphetamine its antihero Walter White obsessively synthesized for five seasons. Fans flocked to streaming services to watch multiple episodes in one sitting, catalyzing the “binge-watching” phenomenon that many content producers now seek to emulate.

Binge-watching is as much a factor in the rise of streaming services as it is an outcome of irresistible TV. Results from the 10th edition of Deloitte’s Digital Democracy Survey show that almost half (46 percent) of U.S. consumers polled subscribe to a streaming video service. Of those individuals, 61 percent identify streaming services as their third-most valued household subscription behind home internet and pay TV. Millennials ages 14-18 prize streaming over cable and satellite—a preference likely to continue as they mature.

The ever-growing popularity of streaming services across generations, combined with the proliferation of mobile devices, is having an indelible impact on the television-viewing habits of U.S. consumers, especially millennials. As television grows more consumer-driven, with audiences increasingly dictating when and through which platforms they will watch programs, many content creators and distributors are trying to expand audience engagement by personalizing consumers’ experiences, observes Kevin Westcott, a principal with Deloitte Consulting LLP.

“Companies in the telecom, media, and entertainment sectors are seeking information about the content individual consumers watch, when they watch it, and which platforms they use in order to personalize advertising and programming,” he says. “The demographic segmentation these companies performed in the past no longer suffices in a consumer-driven world.”

The press for personalization is prompting the CIOs of these companies to address master data management, revamp their information management infrastructures, and invest in analytics capabilities. CIOs of cable and satellite firms, for example, need to think about creating a unified data platform that improves access to the large amounts of customer data often stored across dozens of disparate databases. (A unified data platform is a set of technologies—many of which companies already have in place—that work together to move data throughout an organization so companies can more easily act upon it. Some large hospitals and health systems, seeking to deliver personalized experiences to patients, have implemented unified data platforms.)

Networks, studios, and other content creators face the added challenge of having to build up their stores of consumer data. Westcott says they are looking to third-party data aggregators and social-sensing software for help. “Some larger media and entertainment companies that began investing in data, analytics, and personalization a few years ago now have a keen understanding of their customers, but many others in this sector are only in the early stages of implementing the technology and developing the capabilities,” says Westcott.

The shifts in strategy and technology are spurring demand for IT professionals at many levels— including senior management—who are more focused on the customer than the back office. In the past two years, Westcott has seen multiple companies break the senior technology role into two positions, with one leader (often a CTO or chief digital officer) focused on delivering consumer apps and experiences, and the other running traditional IT infrastructure and operations in the vein of a CIO. Given the emphasis on reaching consumers, especially millennials, through digital channels, CIOs need to work more effectively with CMOs.

As telecom, media, and entertainment CIOs answer the call for personalization, they can seek ideas from colleagues in other consumer-focused industries, such as financial services, health care, and retail, that are attempting to do the same. And maybe they can even learn a few lessons from Walter White.

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