Leading Dining & Restaurant Brands in Australia: Q1 2025 Insights

In the dynamic landscape of dining and restaurant brands in Australia, Q1 2025 witnessed significant digital engagement across web and mobile platforms. This article delves into the performance of three major players: McDonald's, KFC, and Domino's Pizza. Leveraging Sensor Tower's comprehensive datasets, we explore trends in audience engagement, app usage, and advertising strategies.

McDonald's: A Consistent Digital Presence

McDonald's maintains a robust digital footprint through its website, mcdonalds.com, and its McDonald's app.

• Audience Trends: The monthly deduplicated audience remained stable above 3.3M throughout Q1 2025. Web visits showed a slight decline in February but rebounded in March with over 3.5M visits. The app consistently attracted a larger monthly audience compared to the website.

• App Engagement: Monthly active users on the McDonald's app fluctuated, dropping to around 1M in February but rising again in March, indicating a steady interest in mobile engagement.

• Ad Spend & Channels: Monthly ad spend peaked in January at over $2.3M, with significant impressions primarily through Instagram and YouTube. Facebook also played a crucial role in reaching audiences.

KFC: Expanding Web and App Engagement

KFC's digital strategy is reflected in its website, kfc.com, and the KFC app.

• Audience Trends: The monthly deduplicated audience for KFC remained above 1.7M in Q1 2025, with web visits showing a notable increase in March to over 1.9M. The app-only visitors consistently outnumbered web-only visitors, highlighting a strong mobile preference.

• App Engagement: Despite a slight dip in February, monthly app engagement remained strong with around 570K active users by March.

• Ad Spend & Channels: KFC's monthly advertising spend was robust, exceeding $3.5M in January. YouTube was the dominant channel, delivering the highest impressions, followed by Facebook and Instagram.

Domino's Pizza: Digital Growth and Strategy

Domino's Pizza leverages its website, dominos.com, and the Domino's Pizza - Food Delivery app for customer engagement.

• Audience Trends: The website consistently attracted over 700K unique visitors monthly, with March visits nearing 9.2M. The monthly deduplicated audience remained stable above 1.4M.

• App Engagement: The app maintained a steady monthly active user base of around 190K, indicating stable user engagement.

• Ad Spend & Channels: Domino's reduced its monthly ad spend in Q1 2025 compared to Q4 2024, focusing on maintaining visibility through YouTube and Facebook channels.

Conclusion

The Q1 2025 data highlights significant trends in digital engagement and advertising strategies among leading dining brands in Australia. McDonald's, KFC, and Domino's Pizza each demonstrate unique strengths across web and mobile platforms. Sensor Tower's unparalleled insights into cross-platform user behavior and advertising effectiveness are critical for brands aiming to optimize their digital strategies. For more detailed insights, explore Sensor Tower's Web Insights and Pathmatics offerings.