McDonald's is aiming for $1 billion in revenue from its future ad network. The company confirmed on Sept. 23 a pilot that started in August across 450 company-owned U.S. restaurants. Ads for other brands run on order screens once the order is placed. The longer-term plan covers a wider inventory, from the app to kiosks and in-restaurant screens. The billion-dollar figure is a target, with no timeline attached.
The placement is well chosen. Before checkout, every slot can push a drink, a dessert or a pricier meal. After it, McDonald's can monetize the wait without putting a third-party advertiser up against its own upsell. It protects the core business before building a second one.
That is also where the Amazon and Walmart comparison breaks down. A brand buying a Sponsored Product can tie ad exposure to a sale at the retailer. For an advertiser whose product isn't sold at McDonald's, the conversion happens somewhere else. The chain owns the touchpoint. It doesn't necessarily own the data that proves the ad worked.
At this stage the setup looks closer to a digital out-of-home network inside a consumption environment. That can work for a movie studio, a telecom operator or an automaker. But those budgets are won on reach, frequency, attention and brand effect. The "commerce media" label doesn't import retail media's measurement promise.
McDonald's has a bigger project underway than screen rollouts. The company says it spent three years pulling ordering, marketing, loyalty and data into one global infrastructure. Its new app platform, GMA One, is due to be tested in France this year, then extended to its 10 largest company-operated markets by the end of 2028.
For the ad business, that unification could make it easier to ship the same features across markets and to connect customer interactions. Opening those capabilities to advertisers would give the offering more substance than a pile of screens.
Still, a logged-in app customer is not the same as a person walking past a shared screen. A purchase history doesn't mean every exposure can be identified, or tied to a sale at a third party. That connection is what buyers will want to see: how much of the audience is actually addressable, on what data, and what measurement exists beyond impressions.
The move also fits a shift in McDonald's own marketing. The chain wants fans and creators to amplify its campaigns and cut its reliance on paid media. It plans to nearly double spending on long-running brand programs while pulling back on short-term promotions. As it starts selling advertising, McDonald's is trying to buy less of it. Either way, the goal is to get more out of the direct customer relationship.
Franchisees are the other open question. The pilot covers company-owned restaurants, and it hasn't been extended to the rest of the U.S. network. Behind the promise of extra revenue sit concrete calls: who gets paid what, who vets the advertisers, how much room is left for local offers, and who absorbs any damage to the customer experience. The restaurant footprint is a commercial opportunity, not yet available ad inventory.
Conversational commerce deserves to be treated separately. McDonald's says its new app platform will be able to plug into those channels. That is not proof of an integration with the ad network, or of sponsored recommendations being sold inside ordering conversations. Connecting the two would move faster than the company has.
For a media buyer, the question is simple enough. What does exposure at McDonald's add that another screen in the plan doesn't? Incremental audience, a sharper context, usable data, measurable sales? The number of meals served gives a sense of the potential scale, not yet of the price advertisers will agree to pay.
