Restaurant Brands Gain Edge as DoorDash Launches AI-Powered Ads and Acquires Symbiosys
DoorDash, one of the world’s foremost local commerce platforms, has unveiled the most significant update yet to its advertising ecosystem. As part of this transformative evolution, DoorDash has introduced a robust suite of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools and finalized the acquisition of Symbiosys, a next-generation retail media platform. These developments underscore the company’s strategic push to become a global advertising technology leader and a comprehensive retail media partner for businesses of all sizes.
The acquisition of Symbiosys marks a pivotal move for DoorDash. Valued at $175 million, Symbiosys specializes in offsite advertising—enabling brands to expand their presence beyond the DoorDash app into key digital channels, including search engines, social media platforms, and display networks. By integrating Symbiosys’ technology, DoorDash now offers brands the ability to run targeted campaigns outside its ecosystem while maintaining full-circle visibility through its closed-loop measurement system.
These sweeping changes to the DoorDash Ads platform are designed to deliver greater control, enhanced performance insights, and broader consumer engagement to advertisers ranging from small, independent restaurants to Fortune 500 consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies. With a mission to connect businesses with high-intent consumers in smarter and more efficient ways, the new tools and capabilities provide opportunities to drive incremental sales both within and beyond the DoorDash environment.
A Rapidly Growing Ad Powerhouse
DoorDash’s investments in advertising technology are paying off. Today, more than 150,000 advertisers across the globe are using DoorDash Ads to grow their businesses. These users include industry giants, national and regional restaurant chains, and countless local eateries that rely on DoorDash to reach customers in real time. By 2024, the combined DoorDash and Wolt Ads business surpassed an annualized advertising revenue run rate of over $1 billion across more than 30 countries.
This extraordinary achievement in just three years has established DoorDash as the fastest-growing retail media network in history. The scale and velocity of this growth underscore the company’s emerging role as a global engine for local commerce, fueled by continuous innovation in advertising technology.
“We’re building the future of local commerce advertising,” said Toby Espinosa, Vice President of Ads at DoorDash. “With new product capabilities, AI-powered tools, and Symbiosys’ offsite reach, businesses of any size can now connect with high-intent consumers seamlessly. Moving forward, every business—from local owner-operators to the largest global brands—will have the opportunity to grow on DoorDash and beyond with the click of a button.”
What’s New: Enhanced Advertising Tools Across the Board
DoorDash’s latest advertising update includes powerful new capabilities tailored to the needs of two core groups: restaurants and consumer brands.
For Restaurants
Small and mid-sized restaurants now have access to advanced AI tools that simplify campaign creation and management. These solutions are designed to maximize the impact of advertising investments while reducing the burden of manual setup. Key features include:
- AI-Powered Campaign Tools: Restaurant merchants simply provide their business goals, preferred targets, and budget, and DoorDash’s AI does the rest—automatically creating and optimizing campaigns to drive performance.
- Interest Targeting and Category Insights: Using new analytics, restaurants can gain a deeper understanding of how they perform within specific food categories. This allows them to refine their positioning and marketing strategies to attract new customers aligned with their culinary niche.
- Report Builder: The new reporting feature gives restaurants more visibility into their marketing performance. Customizable dashboards and detailed summaries provide clarity into how advertising dollars are being spent and what outcomes they are generating.
- Financial Reconciliation Tools: Enhanced reporting now includes granular financial data, making it easier for merchants to track marketing expenses and reconcile financials with greater precision.
For Brands
National and global consumer brands will benefit from a suite of advertising enhancements aimed at deepening consumer engagement and increasing visibility across DoorDash’s in-app experience. Key updates include:
- Sponsored Brand Ad Enhancements: Brands can now deliver more engaging and visually appealing creatives with support for new formats such as video ads, product carousels, and high-resolution display images—helping to grab consumer attention and differentiate their offerings.
- Advanced Analytics and Brand Metrics: New metrics in Ads Manager allow brands to measure performance more comprehensively. Features like Brand Halo Metrics and Video View Metrics give advertisers a clearer view of engagement and ROI.
- Expanded Sponsored Product Ads: DoorDash is now enabling brands to appear in search results when consumers are actively looking for specific items, including in key verticals like alcohol and retail. This ensures brands can reach users at the exact moment of intent.
Growing Beyond the App: Symbiosys Acquisition Supercharges Offsite Reach
Perhaps the most notable change to the DoorDash Ads platform is the expansion into offsite advertising, enabled through the acquisition of Symbiosys. As digital commerce continues to evolve, reaching consumers across multiple touchpoints is more important than ever.
With Symbiosys integrated into the DoorDash Ads ecosystem, brands now have access to a unified self-serve platform where they can launch, manage, and measure campaigns across digital channels like Google Search, Facebook, Instagram, and programmatic display networks. All of this is backed by DoorDash’s closed-loop measurement system, which connects off-platform ad exposure to actual purchase behavior—delivering unmatched transparency and control.
This new capability allows brands to not only engage customers within the DoorDash app but also re-engage them across the broader internet—driving new and repeat sales while maintaining consistency in messaging and measurement.
