Data: H1 2026 · Source: Omeda’s Newsletter Benchmark Report for Media
Most newsletter benchmarks aren’t built for publishers. They blend in e-commerce, SaaS, and every other kind of sender, then hand you an “average” that doesn’t look much like your program. So we pulled our own.
The statistics below come from Omeda’s Newsletter Benchmark Report for Media H1 2026 — 1.95 billion newsletter sends across 72,885 deployments from a broad cross-section of media publishers on the Omeda platform, sent between January and June 2026. We included only email designated as a newsletter (promotional and transactional sends are excluded), and every rate is calculated against delivered email. Each publisher contributes one figure per metric, and we report the median across publishers plus the typical range (middle 50%) — so these reflect the typical newsletter program, not the biggest senders skewing the average.
Here’s what “good” actually looks like for a media newsletter right now.
Newsletter benchmarks at a glance (media publishers, H1 2026)
| Metric | Typical (median) | Most programs fall in |
|---|---|---|
| Open rate | 31.6% | 24.6–38.5% |
| Click rate (CTR) | 1.16% | 0.6–2.0% |
| Click-to-open rate (CTOR) | 3.8% | 2.3–5.8% |
| Unsubscribe rate | 0.09% | 0.05–0.13% |
| Spam-complaint rate | 0.002% | 0.001–0.004% |
Median values across media publishers on the Omeda platform, H1 2026. Rates are calculated per delivered email and summarized per publisher, so one very large sender can’t dominate the benchmark. Click-to-open and click rate are the most reliable comparison points — open rates are inflated industry-wide by automated inbox activity.
What is a good newsletter open rate for media publishers?
The median newsletter open rate for media publishers was 31.6% in H1 2026, with most programs landing between 24.6% and 38.5%. Treat this one as directional, not definitive: privacy features and automated inbox activity load images and register “opens” no human ever saw, so open rate is inflated industry-wide. It’s a useful floor for deliverability, but not the number to run your program by. For that, look at what people do after they open.
What is a good newsletter click rate (CTR) for media?
The median unique click rate was 1.16%, with the typical program between 0.6% and 2.0%. Click rate measures reach and relevance in a single number — it only moves when the right content reaches the right readers. If yours sits below the range, the lever is almost always sharper targeting and segmentation, not more volume.
What is a good click-to-open rate (CTOR) for newsletters?
The median click-to-open rate was 3.8% in H1 2026, with most media newsletters between 2.3% and 5.8%. This is the metric we’d trust most, because it isolates the audience that actually engaged: of the people who opened, how many found something worth clicking. It’s also the steadiest signal in the data — click-to-open held essentially flat across all six months. When CTOR holds while your list grows, that’s healthy growth. When it slips, that’s your earliest warning, usually before opens or unsubscribes show it.
How do B2B and consumer (B2C) newsletters compare?
This is the clearest pattern in the data: consumer and enthusiast (B2C) newsletters run about twice the click-to-open rate of B2B titles and nearly triple the click rate, and they open about nine points more often.
| Metric | B2B media | Consumer / Enthusiast (B2C) | B2C vs. B2B |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open rate | 30.9% | 40.2% | +9.3 pts |
| Click rate (CTR) | 1.01% | 2.86% | 2.8× |
| Click-to-open rate (CTOR) | 3.4% | 7.6% | 2.2× |
| Unsubscribe rate | 0.088% | 0.112% | +0.02 pts |
Median per publisher. B2C leads on every engagement metric; the only place B2B edges ahead is a marginally lower unsubscribe rate.
The gap makes intuitive sense: enthusiast and consumer readers opt into topics they care about personally, while B2B newsletters get read in a busier professional context. So if you’re a B2B publisher, don’t read that gap as a verdict on your content — benchmark against the segment you actually compete in, not the blended average.
What’s a normal newsletter unsubscribe and spam-complaint rate?
The median unsubscribe rate was 0.09% (most programs between 0.05% and 0.13%), and the median spam-complaint rate was just 0.002% (0.001–0.004%). Complaint rates stayed very low across both B2B and consumer senders. Consumer lists unsubscribe slightly more often than B2B — a modest trade-off for their much higher engagement.
Did newsletter engagement rise or fall for media publishers in H1 2026?
It held steady. Across the first half of 2026, engagement stayed remarkably consistent — open rates softened gently early in the year and then leveled off, click-to-open held flat, and complaints declined from a January peak. The bigger story underneath the numbers: who a newsletter reaches drove engagement far more than how many it reaches. In an inbox reshaped by privacy changes and AI, the publishers pulling ahead aren’t the ones with the largest lists — they’re the ones sending the most relevant thing to the most relevant reader.
Does sending newsletters more often hurt engagement?
Not in this data. Higher-cadence newsletter programs kept complaint rates low — often lower than smaller senders — a sign of mature list hygiene rather than audience fatigue. Frequency itself didn’t burn audiences; relevance and hygiene are what protect engagement as volume grows.
What about deliverability and the January churn bump?
Deliverability stayed clean through H1 2026, and spam complaints dropped by roughly 40% from January to June as post-holiday list churn cleared out. Unsubscribes and complaints both ran highest in January and settled through the half — a routine post-holiday cleanup, not a crisis. The practical move: plan your re-engagement and list-hygiene work around that predictable January peak.
How should publishers use these newsletter benchmarks?
Use them as a yardstick for your own program, not a scoreboard. Because we report the median and the middle-50% range, you can place yourself honestly in the range most media newsletters fall into. Find your segment first (B2B vs. consumer), then judge health by clicks, not opens — click and click-to-open tell you the most about whether your content is landing. And watch the trend in your own numbers over time; that direction of travel is worth more than any single benchmark.
See the full report
These are the headlines. The full Newsletter Benchmark Report for Media H1 2026 includes the complete median-and-range data, the full B2B-vs-consumer breakdown, and month-by-month trend charts across the first half of the year.
Curious why open rates keep climbing while clicks tell a different story? Our data on bot clicks in email unpacks how much automated activity is sitting on top of your numbers.
Want to see how your own newsletter numbers stack up — and what’s driving the gap? Get a demo →
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