McDonald’s wants to turn its ordering journey into an advertising surface. At an investor day presentation on Wednesday, the company revealed McDonald’s Media Network, a commerce media unit that will use its customer data to sell ads to other brands.
The ambition is significant: leadership said it hopes to build a $1 billion advertising revenue stream, according to global chief marketing officer Morgan Flatley.
Flatley framed the move as high-margin. “It’s an opportunity to generate revenue for the system with little in the way of additional cost, no operational complexity, and no disruption to our customer experience,” she said.
Where McDonald’s will run ads
McDonald’s says it has 70 million daily customers globally, giving it a large first-party data set for segmentation. The media network will place ads within the McDonald’s app, on in-store kiosks, on menu boards and in restaurants.
The company began testing in 450 company-owned stores in the U.S. in August and sees an opportunity to extend ad placements to franchised locations, Flatley said.
Commerce media is spreading beyond retail
The launch puts McDonald’s in a fast-growing but competitive market. U.S. commerce media spend is projected to hit $84 billion this year, per Emarketer, but Amazon and Walmart are expected to capture 89% of incremental dollars.
McDonald’s joins a non-retail wave of commerce media players that includes JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Uber and PayPal. Like retailers, these businesses monetize audience data and owned touchpoints. A $1 billion target would make McDonald’s one of the larger networks outside Amazon and Walmart. Last year, Target’s Roundel earned $915 million and Macy’s $188 million; Uber’s ad revenue topped $2 billion in 2025.
Independent retail media analyst Andrew Lipsman called the goal “a credible opportunity,” citing the chain’s physical reach.
“For McDonald’s, they have a massive in-store network of 14,000 stores to work with—that’s more than almost any U.S. retailer,” Lipsman said. “McDonald’s also gets a lot of foot traffic and drive-thru traffic, so there’s plenty of scale that’s attractive to national advertisers.”
He added that while he is not overly optimistic about many commerce media networks, “McDonald’s is one that I think will work out.”
What marketers should watch
For marketers, QSR media is a new contender for budgets, but it needs the same rigour as retail media:
- Ask whether the audience segments are based on real purchase behaviour, not modelled approximations.
- Require closed-loop reporting that ties impressions to incremental visits or sales.
- Check placement controls so ads inside a fast-service experience do not slow ordering or annoy customers.
The potential is clear: a brand with this many daily visits can offer frequency and reach that few niche media networks can match. The open question is whether measurement and inventory quality will justify shifting spend from established platforms.
Source: Adweek
