The Ultimate Happy Meal: McDonald's Germany's Linear TV and Connected TV Advertising Mix
Industry
Food & Restaurants
Challenge
McDonald's Germany wanted to promote its new in-app loyalty program to a broad 18-49 audience. But with younger viewers shifting away from Linear TV, the brand needed to understand how to balance investment across Linear TV and Connected TV to reach that audience effectively.
Results
McDonald's Germany saw a 125% increase in in-app registrations, with 20% of incremental viewers reached exclusively through CTV. Beatgrid's data also revealed that older demographics concentrated on Linear TV while younger audiences favored CTV (31% of CTV-exclusive users were under 30), enabling real-time campaign adjustments and demonstrating CTV's value as a complementary channel.
Key Product
BRANDBEAT, REACHBEAT, FOOTFALLBEAT
About McDonald’s
McDonald's is an iconic global QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) brand, recognized worldwide for its burgers, fries, and signature golden arches. Founded in 1940 and headquartered in Chicago, the company operates in over 100 countries through a franchise model that ensures consistent quality at scale. As one of the world's largest TV and digital advertisers, McDonald's continues to invest heavily in marketing while expanding its reach through delivery, mobile ordering, and ongoing sustainability commitments.
Main Objectives
To encourage loyalty across Germany, OMD Germany, and the world-renowned fast-food giant reached out to promote the new loyalty program integrated into the McDonald’s Germany app. Despite the broad audience range of 18 to 49, younger viewers’ shift from Linear TV led the company to focus on digital investments. Collaborating with OMD Germany, TTD recommended leveraging Connected TV’s premium inventory as the optimal channel to reach a broad net audience for the loyalty program. Through this approach, McDonald’s Germany and OMD Germany conducted an in-depth analysis, comparing performance across defined gender and age segments within the campaign, something that traditional linear methods alone cannot achieve.
Methodology
Beatgrid’s cross-media audience measurement solution was set up for deterministic R&F validation for TV and CTV.
Ad exposure results were based on Beatgrid’s mobile ACR measuring cross-media content exposure.
How it works:
- The audio of the AV ads is turned into audio fingerprints.
- The Beatgrid panel community has the mobile ACR meter app installed on their phone, which converts ambient sound into “audio fingerprints”.
- These audio fingerprints are then matched with the ones from individual ad creatives.
- Enabling accurate person-level cross-media campaign ad audience verification.
Panel Approach
Beatgrid has a GDPR-compliant opt-in mobile panel in Germany, who are invited to Beatgrid’s proprietary metering app, Media Rewards.
For this campaign with McDonald’s Germany:
- R&F data was calculated based on our mobile panel between 18-69 years.
- Data weighting was applied based on national statistics data, to normalize Beatgrid data for national representativeness.
- Beatgrid then calculated the data based on our mobile panel between 18-69 years, allowing for accurate person-based cross-platform campaign audience verification.
Results And Key Takeaways
McDonald’s Germany innovated its existing strategy across Connected TV and yet maintained the familiar human connection by reaching audiences in the comfort of their own homes.
Actionable insights were facilitated to McDonald’s and OMD, thanks to Beatgrid’s passive mobile ACR panel, which enabled the brand to measure ad interactions and the number of times viewers saw the ad by identifying audio through the device’s microphone. McDonald’s Germany could then discern whether the ad aired on Linear TV or Connected TV and evaluate its performance through a collaborative engagement model with OMD Germany and TTD.
- McDonald’s Germany noticed that older demographics were more concentrated on linear TV, while younger audiences preferred Connected TV.
- 31% of Connected TV-exclusive users were younger than 30.
- McDonald’s utilized Beatgrid’s data to make real-time campaign adjustments and demonstrated the efficacy of Connected TV as a complementary marketing channel.
- By leveraging the insights that Beatgrid uncovered, McDonald’s Germany showcased industry best practices and made informed decisions when implementing their Connected TV strategy.
Beatgrid’s deterministic single-source cross-media solution enabled McDonald’s Germany to understand its reach and frequency per media, at a person level, to further expand its campaign reach and regulate the number of viewers within a specific household, allowing them to carve out its unique path as a top global advertiser in the future of television.