Why McDonald's is following Walmart and Amazon into the advertising business

McDonald's on Wednesday announced plans to create its own media network, following in the footsteps of retail giants like Amazon and Walmart .

Still, McDonald's hopes that it could eventually grow to be a $1 billion business for the company.

"It's an opportunity to generate revenue for the system with little in the way of additional cost, no operational complexity and no disruption to our customer experience," Flatley added.

The move could eventually bring McDonald's a steady stream of high-margin revenue as costs for key inputs like beef climb and as the chain plans to invest billions of dollars in restaurant upgrades over the next decade.

In the restaurant industry, McDonald's would be a pioneer for creating its own media network. CFO Ian Borden said that the company is uniquely positioned to make it a success.

"We have one of the most valuable brands of any company of our size and scale in any industry," Borden told CNBC. "We serve about 85% of the U.S. population at least once a year, so we have reach that's quite unique, and we have 14,000 locations across the U.S., which means we're in every community, and we're connecting with every consumer."

McDonald's newest venture was announced as part of the company's investor day , which was hosted at its Chicago headquarters. In addition to the media network, executives shared more details about plans to grow sales through pricey restaurant upgrades and better food quality.