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McDonald’s and Publicis innovate custom full-funnel video measurement solutions

If there’s one brand that truly gets the effectiveness of full-funnel advertising, it’s McDonald’s. The global fast-food chain knows its audiences spend increasing time streaming video, and it invests its media dollars accordingly. With measurement solutions enabled by The Trade Desk and custom performance tools developed with the chain’s agency, Publicis, McDonald’s is leading the way in digital video measurement.

Graphic shows a three-ringed funnel filled with McDonald's french fries

The fast-food giant knew that its potential customers could be reached through connected TV (CTV), which consists of a mix of broadcast video on demand (BVOD) and ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) publishers, paired with online video (OLV). 

To take advantage of the fast-growing category of streaming, McDonald’s and its agency, Publicis, are innovating new solutions to measure streaming video throughout the entire marketing funnel. Discover how: 

BVOD and AVOD complement each other in a brand awareness campaign as part of a CTV strategy 

When McDonald’s wanted to promote a new product available to French customers for a limited time, they opted for a cross-device campaign airing across BVOD and AVOD. After all, time spent with digital media by adults in France has been on a steady ascent, forecasted to reach nearly six hours per day by 2026.1 

By leaning into that trend, the fast-food chain launched a campaign with video ads airing on BVOD channels like TF1+ and France​.tv, and AVOD destinations like Samsung TV Plus, Pluto TV, and Molo​tov​.tv by Fubo. Since McDonald’s was confident of the impact these two approaches would drive, the true objective of this campaign was to ensure de-duplicated audience reach. 

Through an integration with Realytics’ Bee, an incremental reach measurement partner available within our measurement marketplace, the McDonald’s media buying team calculated the contribution of each distribution channel individually and their overlap. They discovered that BVOD drove 3.9% exclusive reach while AVOD was responsible for 4.1%.2 

The innovative measurement approach showed strong complementarity between the two channels — and, most importantly, very little duplication, suggesting that video content consumption on these platforms is unique. 

Custom KPIs show mid- and lower-funnel results in OLV 

McDonald’s has an inventive approach for measurement when it comes to mid- to lower-funnel activations like OLV. The advertiser has reported campaign success and improvement on their custom KPIs. McDonald’s media team developed the “McScore,” a proprietary performance indicator that combines dimensions like CPM, ad completion rate, visibility, and attention rate. 

The McScore was first used in a Q3 ’24 campaign for the French market, powered by the agency’s custom KPI solution, SIMBA, via our platform​. Publicis’ SIMBA is a predictive AI solution designed to meet advertisers’ growing needs for performance and personalization. The marriage of SIMBA and the McScore meant that McDonald’s could prove the efficacy of its new marketing KPI. 

During the campaign, SIMBA optimizations led to a 46% higher McScore than other activated strategies. The campaign also saw a 28% reduction in CPM.​3​

The campaign realized this success through real-time adjustments with the insights provided by the SIMBA solution, making for a true brand​-agency partnership. 

As the popularity of streaming continues to rise and eclipse traditional video formats, new advertising​opportunities arise for measuring the effectiveness of campaigns throughout the marketing funnel. As McDonald’s and Publicis demonstrate, advertisers and their partners should work together to innovate measurement practices for video campaigns, and they need trusted collaborators like us, who can develop custom solutions that drive the business forward. 

Ready to see how custom measurement solutions can drive better results in your next campaign? Contact us​today to learn more. 

This information is provided solely for background and is not a representation or guarantee of any future performance.

Sources: 

1. Emarketer, “Time Spent With Digital Media Overtook Traditional in 2022, (average hrs:mins spent per day with media among adults in France, by format, 2020 – 2026),” May 2024. 
2. Realytics, Campaign airing May – April 2024. Incremental reach distribution per TV distribution channel, per hour. Base: broadcast hours.
3. Publicis France and The Trade Desk, Q3 2024. 

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