McDonald's announced plans to build a media network that would display third-party ads on its digital drive-thru boards, with ambitions to grow the business to $1 billion in revenue.
McDonald's announced plans on Wednesday to build its own media network, entering an advertising business that retail giants Amazon and Walmart have already turned into high-margin revenue engines.
The company confirmed that 450 of its company-owned U.S. restaurants began displaying third-party advertising on digital drive-thru order boards in August as part of a pilot program. The rollout has not yet extended to the franchisees who operate the remainder of its roughly 14,000 U.S. locations.
McDonald's said the venture could eventually grow into a $1 billion business, though the program remains in early stages.
"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.
Flatley added that the network represents "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."
The announcement was made at McDonald's investor day, held at its Chicago headquarters, where executives also outlined plans to grow sales through restaurant upgrades and food quality improvements.
CFO Ian Borden told CNBC that the company's scale gives it an unusual foundation for the effort. "We have one of the most valuable brands of any company of our size and scale in any industry," Borden said. "We serve about 85% of the U.S. population at least once a year, so we have reach that's quite unique, and we have 14,000 locations across the U.S., which means we're in every community, and we're connecting with every consumer."
The move comes as McDonald's faces rising costs for key inputs such as beef and prepares to invest billions of dollars in restaurant upgrades over the next decade — circumstances that make a high-margin, low-overhead revenue line particularly attractive.
The model McDonald's is pursuing mirrors one already proven by larger retailers. Amazon reported $68.6 billion in advertising service sales in 2025, representing just under 10% of the company's total revenue. Amazon's ad inventory spans its shopping pages, Prime Video, Twitch, physical lockers, and third-party apps and websites.
Walmart, which does not break out specific figures for its advertising unit, said its U.S. ad business Connect grew sales 43% in its fiscal second quarter. The retailer displays ads on its app, website, and inside more than 4,600 U.S. stores, as well as on external platforms such as Instagram. Walmart also acquired TV manufacturer Vizio in late 2024 with its ad business in view.
In the restaurant industry, McDonald's would be the first major chain to build a media network of this kind, underscoring how the commerce media model is expanding beyond its retail origins.
Whether franchisees — who operate the vast majority of McDonald's U.S. locations — will adopt the program at scale remains an open question, and the ultimate revenue potential of the network will depend heavily on that expansion.
Marc Sabatini is a staff writer at TechEchelon covering enterprise software, cybersecurity, and the regulatory beats that shape both. He focuses on the deal flow and policy decisions that move markets.
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