The Power of CDPs in the Data Layer: Insights From ITV’s Head of Data Products
Last updated January 28, 2025
As Head of Data Products at ITV, one of the UK’s largest broadcasters and streaming services, Hardeep Dhaliwal understands the challenges of leveraging data to transform audience engagement, drive sales, and deliver personalized experiences.
He joined us at CDP World 2024 to share his insights on how a customer data platform (CDP) helps connect data and empowers teams to collaborate on the use cases that drive impact and revenue. Here are the highlights of what he shared:
Q: How does ITV identify CDP use cases?
Hardeep Dhaliwal: We have multiple internal customers, and balancing all their needs is difficult. It’s the CDP product owner working alongside other teams in the business to make sense of everything with a clear roadmap, and it comes down to identifying the right use cases. What’s the most valuable? What’s the right timing? What needs to be done now, and what can be done later?
Q: Tell us about the data you are working with in the CDP.
HD: We’ve been a Treasure Data customer since 2020, and around that time, the CDP was part of a wider data strategy. So, we recognized the value of data and personalization early.
We started creating a data products approach, where we meshed the data, implemented the CDP layer, and then integrated other systems. In terms of our data, one of our richest datasets comes from ITV’s streaming platform, where we collect data on how people engage with the platform. We also have other third-party datasets as well.
Q: What systems have you connected with the CDP, and what do you want to connect?
HD: We have Databricks, a CRM tool, product experimentation and analytics, Google Analytics 4, and many other data sources. We see the CDP at the center, but there is a whole martech stack out there, and it takes a while to figure out what the stack looks like and how it will evolve in the next three to five years.
Q: Who is responsible for the CDP, and how are decisions made?
HD: Being in the streaming and broadcast market is very interesting. There are a lot of behavioral changes. A lot of things are happening, and we’ve restructured the business slightly differently to break down silos.
Instead of a Chief Marketing Officer, we have a Chief Viewer Officer, who is the ultimate decision maker. Marketing, product, my team, and distribution all sit under them. This allows us to see the end-to-end customer journey because all the teams sit within one area.
Q: What challenges do you face with data management?
HD: I have worked on various data projects for almost 18 years, and the pain points always revolve around data engineering and quality. That’s where the heavy lifting and complexities are. Pipelines are always failing. How do you get robust pipelines and good data quality?
It’s a continuous effort, and you must proactively stay on top of changes.
Q: How do you interact with the teams that execute/activate the data?
HD: This is one of the complexities with the CDP sitting centrally. You have data systems on one side and the martech stack and other applications on the other. Engaging everyone to develop a shared roadmap and vision and collaborating to achieve those successful outcomes is important. Ultimately, as a streaming and broadcasting business, it’s about monthly active users and streaming hours – those KPIs and revenue. That’s the shared goal that everyone needs to work towards.
Q: What excites you most about generative AI today?
HD: There are three things:
- One is the automation of routine tasks you don’t want people to do so they can focus on higher-value activities.
- The second is the hundreds of use cases on the creative side.
- The third on the CDP side is that I would like the AI to do what a human can’t see, like create or suggest segments or insights. I think that is powerful and can allow much more value, lead to more personalization, etc.
Improving data pipelines with a CDP
Hardeep’s experience at ITV demonstrates the transformative potential of CDPs. His insights underscore the importance of robust data pipelines, a clear roadmap, and a focus on continuous improvement to drive impactful business outcomes.
CDP World 2024 offered many more insights and knowledge from global brand executives and industry leaders like Hardeep. You can dive into more of these topics by checking out the featured sessions on our YouTube playlist
And mark your calendars for CDP World 2025! We’ll be back in Las Vegas on October 28–29, 2025, with more cutting-edge discussions on CDPs and the latest in marketing technology. You won’t want to miss out.
