Instacart’s retail media engine is winning faster than the marketplace around it. Instacart reported advertising and other revenue of $331 million in Q3 2026, up 23% year over year, while orders grew 10% and gross transaction value grew 15%. Total revenue rose 17% to $1,095 million.
Ad revenue outgrows the marketplace
Transaction revenue, the bigger line, reached $764 million, up 14%. Advertising and other revenue reached $331 million, up 23%. Working back from the growth rates, advertising was about $269 million a year earlier, lifting its share of total revenue from 28.6% to 30.2%. Of the $156 million in incremental revenue, roughly $62 million, or about 40%, came from advertising.
Ad revenue per order climbed about 12% to $3.62 while order volume rose 10% to 91.4 million. CEO Chris Rogers called it “our best quarter as a public company,” citing the 15% GTV rise and 23% ad jump. Net income rose only 2% to $147 million, but adjusted EBITDA climbed 23% to $342 million.
What the DoorDash deal changes for ad buyers
The numbers landed with the agreement to be acquired by DoorDash for about $17 billion at $65 a share. Instacart has cancelled its November 5 earnings call, suspended financial guidance and withdrawn long-term targets. Until the deal closes—expected at the end of 2027 or early 2028—several guardrails apply to ad business contracts:
- Top advertiser and intermediary contracts can be changed or terminated only in the ordinary course without DoorDash’s consent.
- New exclusivity, most-favoured-nation, minimum-use or non-compete terms need DoorDash approval.
- AI data-access deals where a provider could train on Instacart data for others also need sign-off.
Why it matters for performance marketers
Retail media is the asset DoorDash is paying for. Instacart’s 23% ad growth sits below Amazon’s 26% and Walmart Connect’s 43% in recent quarters, but the scale is far smaller: Amazon’s quarterly ad revenue was roughly 60 times Instacart’s. Instacart’s edge is closed-loop measurement and its white-label ad tech for more than 310 grocery e-commerce sites. An October IAB study found 43% of US retail media buyers believe their organizations underuse in-store media, which matches Instacart’s in-store push.
For brands and agencies, the move now is an audit: flag most-favoured-nation, exclusivity and AI data-access clauses in 2027 Instacart agreements, model a combined DoorDash-Instacart ads stack, and keep incrementality tests running. Do not assume rate cards change before closing.
Source: PPC Land
