EDO: TV Advertising Drives Digital Gains, Can Double Website Traffic for QSR Brands

Quick-service restaurant (QSR) brands have long turned to TV advertising to drive foot traffic, but not all impressions deliver the same value. In a climate of economic uncertainty and tighter marketing budgets, new research from TV outcomes company EDO shows

that advertisers who focus on impression quality, as measured by consumer ad engagement, can unlock greater performance and boost digital channels without additional spend.

Analyzing more than two years of TV airings and syndicated ad engagement data across five major QSR brands — McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Sonic, and Carl’s Jr. — EDO found that QSR advertisers who treat TV as a commodity, prioritizing reach alone, are leaving significant value on the table. By shifting their focus to engagement, brands can extract greater impact from their TV investment and achieve more efficient outcomes that are predictive of future sales.

“QSR brands are seeing strong consumer response to value meal deal ads during this period of budget tightening, where every dollar — both for consumers and advertisers — must work harder,” said Laura Grover, SVP, Head of Client Solutions at EDO. “As marketers navigate this uncertain landscape, impression quality becomes the key to driving smarter allocation decisions and ensuring stronger returns within a brand’s existing media footprint.”

Impression Quality Enables TV Measurement Akin to Digital

While digital channels offer immediate performance feedback, the return on TV has traditionally been harder to measure — especially in high-volume categories like QSR, where most purchases happen offline. EDO’s data modeling bridges that gap by tying minute-by-minute TV ad data to real-time behaviors like search and website visits after TV viewers are exposed to an ad.

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EDO found that when a QSR brand is on air, its website traffic increases by an average of 11.5% above baseline. Just as notably, TV doesn’t just work in a silo — it boosts the effectiveness of other digital channels, enhancing web traffic driven by display ads by 82%, social by 62%, and referrals by 27%.

Moving Beyond Reach for Immediate TV Optimization

EDO’s research introduces a shift in mindset for QSR advertisers: move beyond reach as a sole metric, and focus instead on reach and outcomes. According to the study, a 1% increase in engagement delivers six times more site traffic than a corresponding increase in impressions alone.

Further, a prior EDO study found that one leading advertiser generated over three times greater lift in ad-driven engagement as compared to a traditional, audience-only media plan when optimizing for both reach and outcomes. That’s a powerful insight for marketers navigating budget pressures, media fragmentation, and increased accountability.

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Key takeaways from EDO’s research include:

• Prioritizing impression quality pays off: QSR brands that optimize for engagement can double their TV-driven web traffic without increasing budget.

• Smarter allocation, stronger returns: Shifting spend toward higher-quality placements led to an average 117% increase in TV-attributed web visits.

• Brand-level upside is significant: For example, McDonald’s could more than double (+106%) its TV-attributed traffic by rebalancing its media mix.

• TV lifts digital, too: On average, TV advertising lifted QSR website traffic by 11.5%, highlighting its amplifying effect on the full media mix.

As QSR marketers gear up for a competitive summer season, one thing is clear: maximizing TV performance doesn’t mean spending more — it means spending smarter.