Blog

LinkedIn Outreach Benchmarks for Media Production (2026)

Written By
Ilija Cosic
Published on October 23, 2026
LinkedIn outreach benchmarks for media production in 2026, based on Expandi’s data
Written By
Ilija Cosic
Summarize with your favorite AI

Key Takeaways

In media production, the average LinkedIn connection acceptance rate is 23.4%. Replies to the connection note average 1.9%, and replies to a message after the connection is accepted average 7.2%. Those numbers come from 127,799 connection requests sent by 78 media production accounts between May 2025 and April 2026. All three sit below the cross-industry averages of 28.5%, 3.0% and 10.4%.

Media Production vs. the platform average

MetricMedia ProductionAll industriesDifferenceRank
Connection acceptance23.4%28.5%-5.1 pts37th of 38
Connection-note reply1.9%3.0%-1.1 pts37th of 38
Message reply after acceptance7.2%10.4%-3.2 pts38th of 38

Across the 38 industries with at least 50 sending accounts, acceptance runs from 21.8% (telecommunications) to 36.5% (staffing & recruiting). Note replies run from 1.8% to 6.6%, and message replies from 7.2% to 18.9%.

What the numbers say about media production outreach

Outreach from media production converts fewer recipients into replies than any other reported industry. About 1.7 in every 100 recipients reply to a follow-up, 38th of 38 and a little over half the cross-industry 3.0. It is also the only one of the 38 industries that ranks in the bottom two on every measure, so the shortfall cannot be traced to a single weak step.

Acceptance of 23.4% is 5.1 points under the platform and ahead only of telecommunications. Note replies of 1.9% sit level with computer and network security, again ahead only of telecommunications. Message replies of 7.2% are the lowest of the 38, just under e-learning. Because end-to-end conversion multiplies acceptance by message replies, two below-average steps compound into the lowest result in the data rather than merely a low one.

Its nearest matches, outsourcing and offshoring, medical device and biotechnology, also sit below the platform on all three measures, but media production is further below than any of them on each. On 78 accounts a last place deserves some caution, since a handful of unusual accounts can move a small sample. Ranking in the bottom two on all three measures is harder to put down to that.

If your numbers sit below these

The dataset says where an account sits, not why. From what we see in campaigns, three gaps come up most often in this sector, and they point at different problems.

Message replies under 7.2%. The lowest sector line in the data, so a number below it is close to the floor of everything measured. It is also the step worth most per point: at this sector’s acceptance rate, a point gained on messages lifts the end-to-end result about as much as three points gained on acceptance.

Acceptance under 23.4%. Already 37th of 38 and 5.1 points under the platform, the largest gap in points on this page. From what we see in campaigns, a low rate in this sector usually follows a request that leads with a showreel or a capabilities line instead of a reason specific to the person receiving it.

Note replies under 1.9%. Joint second lowest in the data and well under the 3.0% platform figure. With acceptance and message replies this far down, the note is the last place to spend effort, and sending requests without one is more informative than another rewrite.

Further reading:

Frequently asked questions

What is a good LinkedIn acceptance rate in media production?

23.4% is the sector average, 5.1 points below the 28.5% cross-industry figure and 37th of 38 reported industries. Above 26% is doing better than the sector, and reaching the platform figure would put an account well clear of its peers.

Where does LinkedIn outreach from media production lose the most?

At the message after acceptance, even though acceptance is further below the platform in points. Message replies of 7.2% are the lowest of 38 reported industries, and because end-to-end conversion multiplies the two, bringing messages up to the 10.4% platform figure would lift the sector further than bringing acceptance up to 28.5%.

How does media production compare with other industries?

It ranks 37th of 38 on acceptance, 37th on note replies and 38th on message replies, the only industry in the bottom two on all three. End to end about 1.7 in 100 recipients reply to a follow-up, the lowest of the 38, against roughly 3.0 across all industries.

How this data was collected

Media Production is reported from 78 accounts and 127,799 connection requests sent between May 2025 and April 2026, drawn from the LinkedIn Outreach Benchmarks 2026 dataset of 13.2 million requests across 13,302 accounts. That report carries the full methodology, along with the breakdowns by sender seniority, company size and month that are not repeated here.

Two things to hold in mind while reading any of these figures. The industry is the sender’s, taken from their company profile, not the recipient’s. And only industries with at least 50 sending accounts are reported at all: below that, a single unusual account moves the average by several points, which is why some of the most extreme numbers in the full appendix are not published here.

Grade your own outreach against these numbers

Enter your own acceptance and reply rates and grade your outreach against the media production benchmark, plus see where you sit among all 38 reported industries. No signup.

Ready to improve & scale your LinkedIn outreach? Sign up for a 7-day free trial and put our LinkedIn automation tool to the test!

Data updated 19 August 2026. Refreshed quarterly against the source report.

You’ve made it all the way down here, take the final step