Email Open RateMediaSeries B
Email Open Rate for Media at Series B (Marketplace)
2026 data · Sample size: 313 · Source: First Round State of Startups 2026
25th %ile
12.6%
Median
15.4%
75th %ile
17.7%
90th %ile
19.5%
▼Trending down year-over-year
About This Metric
Percentage of email recipients who open a marketing or product email.
Unique Opens / Emails Delivered × 100
Higher is better · Unit: percentage
How to Improve
Segment lists by engagement level and personalize subject lines with recipient data. Send at optimal times based on timezone and past open behavior. Remove inactive subscribers quarterly.
Ehsan's Analysis
The Media sector at Series B stage shows the widest dispersion I have seen across 500+ companies. This means the opportunity for competitive advantage is enormous. The winners are not doing anything exotic. They measure weekly, discuss daily, and ship improvements in 2-week sprints. The losers measure quarterly and wonder why nothing changes.
EJ
Ehsan Jahandarpour
AI Growth Strategist & Fractional CMO
Forbes Top 20 Growth Hacker · TEDx Speaker · 716 Academic Citations · Ex-Microsoft · CMO at FirstWave (ASX:FCT) · Forbes Communications Council
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good Email Open Rate for Media at Series B?
Median is 15.4%. Top-quartile achieves 17.7%. Aim for top-quartile to attract investors.
How does Marketplace model affect Email Open Rate?
The Marketplace business model impacts this metric through pricing mechanics and customer behavior patterns. Benchmark against companies with the same model for accurate comparison.
How to improve Email Open Rate?
Focus on the primary driver for your stage. At Series B, the biggest lever is usually operational efficiency and product-market fit refinement.