The Product Benchmarks Every Media and Entertainment Company Should Know

Call it the great slowdown.

Digital media and entertainment companies have seen the pace of growth decelerate to a near crawl amid increased competition, among other factors. But the strongest among them stand a chance to rise above the fray.

In this post, we share some ways to do just that, drawing on exclusive data and takeaways from our 2025 Product Benchmark Report. You’ll discover where media and entertainment teams stand today, how top performers win, and what to do next.

What the numbers say: Media and entertainment product benchmarks

Acquisition, activation, engagement, and retention rates for the media and entertainment industry’s 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles.

Our analysis shows just how much it pays to be the best. While digital media and entertainment products at the median level saw slowed gains at a growth rate of -0.2%, top performers told another story, with a growth rate of 8%. That gap is a big deal when you consider that it means top media and entertainment products saw an annual acquisition rate of a whopping 152%.

But adding new users will only take you so far. Our analysis of companies across all industries found that the leaky bucket problem is real. In fact, there was no relationship between products in the top quartile for adding users and those in the top quartile for retention. That means solely focusing on the top of the funnel won’t guarantee you repeat customers.

A better bet? Focus on delivering value, ideally within the first week. We found 69% of products with strong early activation were also strong three-month retention performers, demonstrating that speed matters. And that difference compounds. For example, at three months, the top digital media and entertainment products retain 13.4% of their customers while median financial services products retain 2.5%—a more than 5x difference.

The power of early activation

The real challenge for most products, regardless of industry, isn’t attracting users; it’s keeping them around long-term. A seamless customer experience that quickly gets users to that first aha moment is key. Indeed, if your users come back after one week, there’s a good chance they’ll still be around months later.

This chart illustrates how activation (left) relates to retention (right). The thick blue bar at the top shows that users in the top quartile of activation are also in the top quartile of retention. The thick pink bar at the bottom shows that the opposite is true. This suggests a strong correlation between activation and retention.

3 strategies to perform like the best media and entertainment companies

So by now you know how important early activation is to long-term retention. How do you go about boosting it? Borrow these winning strategies from top media and entertainment companies.

1. Personalization is the antidote to churn

Use behavioral data to serve up content and recommendations that keep users engaged. If you’re seeing high bounce or drop-off rates, invest in tailored experiences based on consumption patterns and preferences.

Do it in Amplitude: Use Amplitude Audiences to segment your audience by any combination of behavior, profile, or product data. Target high- or low-propensity users with the right campaigns based on their behaviors.

2. See where viewers drop off and why

Visualize any number of user journeys in one timeline to see which paths lead to conversion, churn, and loyalty. Explore where users encounter friction, what’s stopping subscriptions, and what product milestones lead to them.

Do it in Amplitude: Use funnels and journeys to help you identify friction and drop-off points so you can improve the customer journey and show your users value more quickly.

3. Test experiences to unlock growth

Use A/B testing to measure impact, validate ideas, and optimize every touchpoint using behavioral insights. See how you can adjust the user experience to boost engagement, how feature changes impact new user activation, and what campaigns, experiences, and CTAs best drive paid subscriptions.

Do it in Amplitude: Use Amplitude Feature Experimentation to test ways to improve the user experience, adopting a process of continuous iteration focused on optimizing for loyalty and retention.

Put your product on the path to growth with benchmark insights

The outlook for media and entertainment businesses promises risks and opportunities. Smart strategies, such as focusing on activation, can help you make the most of those opportunities.

Product Benchmark Report

Discover what else our Product Benchmark Report reveals about the way the best-performing companies win and the lessons you can apply at your own organization.

Read the report