Why McDonald's is building an advertising business
McDonald's is launching an internal media network to sell advertising space on its digital drive-thru menu boards. The company aims to generate a new high-margin revenue stream by leveraging its massive customer reach across 14,000 U.S. locations.
Why it matters
This move signals a broader trend of retail and restaurant chains transforming into advertising platforms to diversify income and offset rising operational costs.
McDonald's on Wednesday announced plans to create its own media network, following in the footsteps of retail giants like Amazon and Walmart .
In August, 450 of its company-owned U.S. restaurants began displaying advertising for other companies on its digital drive-thru order boards as part of a pilot. It is early days for the program, which has not yet rolled out to the franchisees who operate the rest of its roughly 14,000 U.S. locations.
Still, McDonald's hopes that it could eventually grow to be a $1 billion business for the company.
"Commerce media is one of the fastest-growing areas in advertising, and it's expected to reach more than $100 billion in the U.S. alone by 2028," Morgan Flatley, McDonald's global chief marketing officer and executive vice president of new business ventures, said during an investor presentation.
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