SensorTowerSpecial Delivery: Inside Retail Media on the Top Delivery Platforms
Summary
Delivery retail media is consolidating around distinct platform strengths, and ad ops teams should plan network-by-network rather than treating delivery RMNs as a single channel. Instacart has become the impressions leader: 49% of delivery retail media impressions in 2026 YTD, nearly double its 24% share in 2024, while Grubhub slipped to 13%. DoorDash is second at 28% and has the largest advertiser base, 496 brands versus Instacart's 306; because Instacart produces more impressions from fewer advertisers, its average campaigns are larger. That suggests Instacart may offer greater scale per advertiser, while DoorDash offers broader advertiser coverage and a more balanced category mix.
Category concentration varies sharply. Grubhub is most restaurant-focused, with 88% of impressions from fast food and fast casual; Uber also skews restaurant at 48%, and McDonald's is the top advertiser on both. Instacart is CPG-led, with Food Items at 47% and Beverages at 18%, plus pet, hair care, and household cleaning. DoorDash is most balanced, with no category above 22%; credit cards reach 16%, driven by Chase's DashPass partnership. Chase is the top advertiser across all four networks, showing that non-restaurant and financial partners can use delivery RMNs effectively.
Channel execution is still social-first. Facebook and Instagram capture most impressions, including 87% on Grubhub and 77% on Instacart. Uber has the most diversified mix, with notable TikTok (11%) and YouTube (13%) allocations; Jersey Mike's led TikTok and McDonald's led YouTube. Ad ops should match creative and measurement to each network's mix: social-first for scale on Grubhub/Instacart, diversified video/social testing on Uber, and category-specific targeting on DoorDash. Use Instacart for CPG replenishment and last-minute needs, restaurant networks for offers and discounts, and DoorDash for balanced retail plus card/partnership campaigns. Retail partnerships like Urban Outfitters and Lowe's further expand delivery occasions, so teams should test broader retail and CPG use cases, not just food. Track advertiser count and impressions per advertiser to benchmark campaign scale and competitive pressure.
Analyst Note
What stands out here is not just Instacart’s impression share gain, but how differently the delivery retail media networks are monetizing. Instacart’s CPG-heavy mix, DoorDash’s balanced category base, Grubhub’s restaurant focus, and Uber’s more diversified channel allocation suggest these platforms are becoming distinct ad environments rather than interchangeable delivery inventory. For ad ops and UA teams, the key implication is that network-level benchmarks may obscure category-level performance: a CPG campaign on Instacart and a restaurant or credit-card push on DoorDash are not comparable buys.
The advertiser-base contrast—DoorDash with more brands but fewer impressions than Instacart—also points to campaign scale and budget concentration as important context when evaluating competitive pressure. Timing matters because retail media budgets are increasingly flowing beyond grocery and marketplace placements into delivery apps, while Facebook and Instagram still anchor most impressions. Uber’s larger TikTok and YouTube allocations are worth watching as a signal of channel-mix experimentation, but the article shows social remains the default.
The broader trend is delivery RMNs using first-party transaction and partnership data to widen advertiser categories beyond food, which raises measurement and attribution questions across an increasingly fragmented retail media landscape.
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