The quick-service giant is piloting McDonald’s Media Network across 450 US restaurants, turning its app, kiosks, drive-thru screens and other digital touchpoints into advertising inventory. McDonald’s is expanding beyond selling food and into advertising, with the quick-service restaurant company launching McDonald’s Media Network and setting its sights on a potential $1 billion advertising business over time.
Announced during the company’s Investor Day in Chicago on September 23, the initiative is currently being tested across 450 company-owned restaurants in the US. The pilot allows third-party brands to advertise across digital touchpoints that are already part of the McDonald’s customer journey. These include drive-thru order boards, self-service kiosks, the McDonald’s app and other digital interfaces within its restaurants.
The proposition gives McDonald’s a new way to monetise an ecosystem it already operates rather than creating an entirely separate media platform. Customers can encounter the advertising while placing an order, waiting for food, using the drive-thru or interacting with the brand digitally.
Morgan Flatley, global chief marketing officer and executive vice president of new business ventures at McDonald’s, said the company sees the network as another revenue opportunity built around existing assets. She also pointed to the wider growth of commerce media, saying the category is expected to exceed $100 billion in the US by 2028.
McDonald’s believes its existing scale could give the network significant reach. The company has approximately 14,000 restaurants across the US and says it serves around 85% of the US population at least once a year. Globally, it reports more than 70 million daily customers.
However, the current programme remains a US pilot and has not yet been extended to McDonald’s franchise-operated restaurants, which account for the majority of its US network.
From restaurant touchpoints to advertising inventory
McDonald’s approach differs from the retail-media models built by companies such as Amazon and Walmart. Instead of placing advertising around an online shopping catalogue or retail shelves, McDonald’s is building inventory around the physical and digital environments through which customers already interact with the restaurant. That gives advertisers access to a combination of digital screens, app-based engagement and restaurant-based touchpoints.
The company also sees the model as relatively light on incremental costs. The infrastructure being used for advertising is already embedded in its ordering and customer experience, allowing McDonald’s to add a commercial layer without creating a new physical network.
Ian Borden, executive vice president and global chief financial officer, highlighted the scale of McDonald’s existing footprint and customer relationships as part of the opportunity.
The media initiative is also supported by McDonald’s broader investment in its digital infrastructure. The company has been consolidating ordering, loyalty, marketing and other digital capabilities onto a common technology backbone, creating an ecosystem through which customers can interact with the brand across different touchpoints. That existing infrastructure could become important as McDonald’s develops the advertising proposition beyond the initial pilot.
A new category of restaurant media
The move comes as commerce media continues to expand beyond traditional retailers, with companies looking to monetise direct relationships with consumers through advertising. For McDonald’s, the opportunity is tied to the scale of its restaurant network and the frequency with which consumers interact with its digital and physical ecosystem. The company can potentially offer advertisers access to consumers at multiple points rather than relying on a single advertising format.
The $1 billion ambition, however, represents a longer-term target rather than the current size of the business. McDonald’s has not disclosed a timeline for reaching that figure, and the immediate focus remains on testing the model across the 450-restaurant pilot. The company will also need to determine how the network can scale across its broader franchise system and how advertising can be integrated without disrupting the customer experience.
For the advertising industry, McDonald’s entry adds another form of commerce media to the mix — one built not around a supermarket aisle or an e-commerce marketplace, but around the everyday digital and physical touchpoints of a global restaurant brand.
