• Ad spend of selected restaurants in the U.S. 2019

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In 2019, McDonald’s spent more on advertising in the United States than all other widely recognized restaurant chains. With 624 million U.S. dollars in ad expenditures, the chain was way ahead of brands such as Domino's (next in line, with a 467 million ad spend) and Taco Bell (383 million). Burger King also spent more than 300 million on measured media that year, and Wendy's invested a little over 250 million dollars, thus closing the list of top five spending restaurant chains.

Quick service restaurant chains brand value

In terms of brand value, McDonald’s also leads the pack by a margin of roughly 82 billion U.S. dollars, far surpassing Starbucks and KFC. Fellow fast food chain KFC ranks third with a value of 16 billion dollars, while Burger King is eighth. Taco Bell is second to last in the 2020 ranking.

QSR industry and consumer behavior

When it comes to consumer opinions, McDonald’s is not faring that well. According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, the chain had the lowest index score among other limited service restaurants in the country – at 70 points it was well behind Burger King’s 76 points, Subway’s 79 point-score and even Taco Bell, which earned 76 points.

Advertising spending of selected restaurant chains in the United States in 2019 (in million U.S. dollars)

	Spending in million U.S. dollars
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Release date

July 2020

More information

Region

United States

Survey time period

2019

Special properties

measured media only

Supplementary notes

Measured media is based on spending in 19 media: consumer magazines, Sunday magazines, local magazines, business-to-business magazines, local newspapers, national newspapers, free-standing inserts, broadcast network TV, broadcast spot TV, national syndicated TV, network cable TV, network radio, national spot radio, local radio, Spanish-language media (magazines, newspapers, TV networks), outdoor and internet (display advertising; excludes paid search, video and other forms of internet advertising).
The figures do not include unmeasured spending, such as direct marketing, promotion, internet paid search, social media and other forms of spending not included in the 19 measured media.