Media and Entertainment Industry Social Media Benchmark Report
Find out how your brand stacks up against media and entertainment industry leaders.
Download the full media and entertainment industry benchmark report to see the latest averages, statistics, and key metrics across the industry. Use these findings to set clear goals, sharpen creative, and discover where you’re winning or have opportunities to grow.
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Key Takeaways: 2026 Media and Entertainment Industry Benchmark Report
- Prioritize top-performing content on TikTok. Views are down 17%, while engagement rate has held steady and remains among the highest in this report.
- Lean into discovery on Instagram. Views are up 17% from six months ago, while engagement rate declined from 2.9% to 2.3%, with Reels leading in both reach and engagement.
- Focus on short-form video on YouTube. Views are up 6% overall, driven by a 41% increase in Shorts, while On-Demand content remains flat.
Media and Entertainment Industry Benchmarks and Statistics
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What Top Media and Entertainment Brands Are Doing Differently
Top-performing media and entertainment brands use emotional storytelling, crisp visuals, and content that entertains to encourage engagement and retention.
Hulu’s YouTube strategy leans into entertainment and behind-the-scenes footage. It draws in new viewers with upcoming shows while keeping existing audiences engaged through memorable clips, cast insights, and sneak peeks.
BBC Earth leans into creative excellence, opting for hi-fi visuals that blend awe and tension paired with concise captions to add clarity and credibility. With thoughtful narratives and the right pacing, educational content becomes highly watchable.
Who doesn’t love a heart-warming animal video? The Dodo tells animal stories through short-form TikTok videos, leaning into emotion, feel-good moments, and celebrity animals to keep audiences hooked until the very end.
How Have Media and Entertainment Benchmarks Changed Since Our Last Report?
From High Volume To High Impact
In 2025, staying visible largely meant posting frequently. While posting remains high, performance is concentrated in fewer standout posts.
While TikTok brands now average 18 posts per week, top-performing posts significantly exceed the average 4.8% average engagement rate.
What changed: Results are driven by content quality and storytelling, not volume alone.
From Passive Viewing To Active Sharing
Previously, engagement leaned heavily on likes and views. Now, shares play a larger role in driving distribution and reach.
Recent data shows an average of 796 shares per post, while Instagram averages 2,459 shares, signaling stronger audience participation.
What changed: Content with emotional or entertainment value drives higher shares and extended reach.
From Stand-Alone Clips To Narrative Driven Content
In our last report, high-performing media and entertainment brands leaned on timely news stories, crisp explainer-style videos, and comedic trends to build engagement.
Top brands like The Dodo and BBC Earth are adopting structured storytelling to increase completion rates and engagement.
What changed: Audiences engage with content that sparks curiosity or delivers an emotional payoff.
What’s a Good Engagement Rate for Media and Entertainment Brands?
Media and entertainment brands should aim for an engagement rate between 4.5% and 5.0% on TikTok, and between 2.0% and 2.5% on Instagram.
What Types of Content Perform Best for Media and Entertainment Industry Brands?
On TikTok, emotional storytelling drives results for the media and entertainment industry. The Dodo earned a 30.6% engagement rate and 481K views with narrative clips that hold attention, far above the industry averages of 4.8% and 267K views.
On Instagram, anticipation and strong visuals win. King of the Hill reached 344.9% engagement on a Reel tied to a 2026 release, while BBC Earth’s cinematic content pulled in 1.6M views with cinematic content. The platform average sits at 0.5% engagement and 772K views.
On YouTube, depth matters. Hulu drove 45M views with behind-the-scenes content, compared to the 110K average, with audiences watching 80% of videos.
Repurposed content from movies, television, and interviews also perform well, helping brands reach new audiences and re-engage followers.
How Our Media and Entertainment Industry Benchmarks Are Calculated
Dash Social pulled a sample of global companies across TikTok (n=1,361), Instagram (n=3,363), and YouTube (n=616) analyzing their activity between July 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025 to determine average performance against a predetermined set of KPIs. These benchmarks include organic, boosted and promoted content but exclude paid ads. They apply to handles with at least 1K followers, covering both customers and non-customers.
Download the Full Media and Entertainment Industry Report
Dash Social’s benchmark report takes you through the latest metrics behind discovery, viewership, and how leading brands stand out on social.
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Social Media Benchmark FAQs
What’s the average follower growth rate for media and entertainment brands?
Growth varies by platform. TikTok leads with a 4.1% monthly follower growth rate. Instagram follows at 1.3%, while YouTube trails at 0.8%.
How often should media brands post per week?
Media and entertainment brands maintain a high posting cadence. TikTok averages 18 posts per week, Instagram averages 31 posts per week, and YouTube averages 16 videos per week. Volume remains high, but performance depends on content quality.
What KPIs should media and entertainment companies track?
Focus on engagement rate by views or reach, video views, shares, and Entertainment Score. Total Social Impact (TSI) helps brands measure the impact of its overall social media mix. These metrics better reflect content performance than follower-based engagement alone.