Leading Brands in US Food & Dining Services: Q1 2025 Overview

Introduction

In the competitive landscape of the US Food & Dining Services category, certain brands have emerged as leaders, capturing significant monthly deduplicated audiences across their websites and apps. In this article, we analyze the performance and trends of DoorDash, McDonald's, and Yelp Inc., highlighting data trends and audience engagement from Q4 2024 to Q1 2025. All insights are powered by Sensor Tower's comprehensive datasets, offering unparalleled cross-platform user behavior analysis.

DoorDash: Delivering Excellence

DoorDash maintains a robust digital presence through its websites, doordash.com and order.online, alongside the DoorDash - Food Delivery app.

• Audience Trends: The monthly deduplicated audience for DoorDash experienced steady growth, consistently staying above 60M by March 2025. The website doordash.com saw a notable spike in visits, exceeding 262M in March, while order.online also increased to over 57M visits.

• App Engagement: The app's monthly active users rose steadily, surpassing 43M by March. This indicates a strong preference for mobile engagement among DoorDash users.

• Ad Spend & Channels: DoorDash's monthly advertising expenditure peaked in December 2024, reaching over $23M, primarily through platforms like Facebook and TikTok, which delivered significant impressions.

McDonald's: Iconic Engagement

McDonald's digital ecosystem includes happymeal.com and mcdonalds.com, along with the McDonald's app.

• Audience Trends: The combined monthly deduplicated audience for McDonald's remained stable, with over 60M by March 2025. Visits to mcdonalds.com showed fluctuations, peaking at 19M in December, while happymeal.com maintained a steady visit count.

• App Engagement: The app saw a resurgence in monthly active users, reaching over 24M by March, reflecting a renewed interest in mobile interactions.

• Ad Spend & Channels: Monthly advertising efforts saw a peak in December, with spending crossing $31M, heavily utilizing OTT and Instagram channels for maximum reach.

Yelp Inc.: Trusted Reviews

Yelp Inc. leverages its website, yelp.com, and the Yelp: Food, Delivery & Reviews app to engage users.

• Audience Trends: Yelp's monthly deduplicated audience grew to over 39M by March 2025. The website maintained consistent traffic, with visits peaking at 141M.

• App Engagement: The app's monthly active users remained stable, reaching approximately 8.4M by March, showing a balanced web and app user base.

• Ad Spend & Channels: Yelp's monthly advertising spend decreased over the quarters, focusing primarily on YouTube, which provided the majority of impressions.

Conclusion

The US Food & Dining Services sector is marked by dynamic digital strategies from leading brands like DoorDash, McDonald's, and Yelp Inc. Through Sensor Tower's comprehensive datasets, businesses can gain critical insights into cross-platform user behavior, ensuring a competitive edge in this thriving market. Explore more with our Web Insights, App Performance Insights, and Pathmatics offerings.