DoorDash’s plan to acquire Instacart for roughly $17 billion has media buyers looking past the grocery aisle and into their retail media budgets. The deal is not expected to close until late 2027 or the first half of 2028 at the earliest, and it still needs approval from the Federal Trade Commission. In the near term, most buyers do not expect a major disruption. Longer term, the potential is significant.
Five questions advertisers are tracking
From capabilities to measurement, media buyers and analysts are watching five areas closely.
- Capabilities: DoorDash reported 993 million total orders in Q3, while Instacart reported 91.4 million orders. A combined network could offer closed-loop reporting and a scaled ads platform.
- Pricing: U.S. retail media spend is expected to reach nearly $70 billion by the end of this year. Premium CPMs are possible, but buyers are cautious about earmarking budgets before ad products mature.
- Competition: Amazon and Walmart are expected to capture more than 89% of incremental retail media dollars this year, per eMarketer. The deal could help DoorDash and Instacart cut into that share.
- Consolidation: Analysts see this as a first major step in retail media consolidation, as advertisers scrutinize spend and retailers chase scale, technology and inventory.
- Measurement: More data does not automatically mean better measurement. Independent verification and incrementality still matter to buyers.
Why scale is not the same as simplicity
DoorDash Ads and Instacart Ads currently operate as separate ad businesses with their own technology. The real test is how the two integrate without disrupting how advertisers buy media. As Mediaocean CEO Bill Wise put it, “Bigger platforms don’t automatically mean simplicity.” Brands still manage investments across multiple ecosystems, each with its own data, rules and measurement.
The Amazon and Walmart bar
Even with the combined entity, the gap is wide. Walmart’s global ad business pulled in nearly $6.4 billion last year, while Amazon made $21.3 billion in Q4 2025 alone. Those numbers show why some buyers see scale as necessary but not sufficient: the longer the integration takes, the wider the gap could become.
What buyers should do before the deal closes
The watchword is patience. OpenAI’s ChatGPT ads are a recent reminder that new ad programs can take time to get off the ground. Rather than shifting large budgets on a press release, advertisers can run small tests once the ad products integrate, compare CPMs, and insist on independent incrementality measurement.
Source: Digiday
