Why McDonald's is following Walmart and Amazon into the advertising business

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. "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," Flatley added. The move could eventually bring McDonald's a steady stream of high-margin revenue as costs for key inputs like beef climb and as the chain plans to invest billions of dollars in restaurant upgrades over the next decade. In the restaurant industry, McDonald's would be a pioneer for creating its own media network. CFO Ian Borden said that the company is uniquely positioned to make it a success. "We have one of the most valuable brands of any company of our size and scale in any industry," Borden told CNBC. "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." Retailers like Amazon and Walmart have found success running their own media networks, which tend to be high-margin businesses. Amazon reported $68.6 billion in advertising service sales in 2025, accounting for just under 10% of the company's overall revenue. Amazon's ads appear across its portfolio, from its shopping pages to Prime Video to lockers and live streaming platform Twitch, as well as third-party apps and websites. Walmart does not share specific sales results for its advertising unit, but the company said that Connect, its U.S. ad business, grew sales 43% in its fiscal second quarter. The retailer's media network shows ads on its app, website and inside its more than 4,600 U.S. stores, plus outside apps like Instagram. It also bought TV maker Vizio in late 2024 with an eye toward its ad business. McDonald's newest venture was announced as part of the company's investor day, which was hosted at its Chicago headquarters. In addition to the media network, executives shared more details about plans to grow sales through pricey restaurant upgrades and better food quality.