24 newsletter statistics that matter: 2026 edition
Newsletters are one of the fastest-growing corners of email - but averages hide as much as they reveal. These 24 sourced statistics show where newsletter opens, clicks, growth, and revenue really stand, and why every number depends on landing in the inbox.
The newsletter has quietly become one of the most durable formats in media. While social feeds churn and reach collapses without warning, a newsletter is a direct line into a subscriber's inbox - owned, portable, and measurable. In 2026 that channel is bigger, more competitive, and more monetized than it has ever been.
But the headline numbers are slippery. Open rates have climbed into the low 40s, yet much of that lift is an artifact of Apple's Mail Privacy Protection rather than genuine interest. Click rates have softened even as subscriber counts explode. And the difference between a newsletter that compounds and one that stalls often comes down to whether it reaches the inbox at all.
Here are 24 sourced newsletter statistics for 2026 - covering open and click benchmarks, subscriber growth, industry and B2B/B2C differences, send frequency and timing, and monetization - with what each one means for anyone running a list.
Key takeaways
- beehiiv newsletters averaged a 41.24% open rate in 2025, up from 37.67% a year earlier.
- Average newsletter click-through rate on beehiiv fell to 3.23% in 2025, down from 4.74% in 2024.
- The median beehiiv newsletter grew from 482 to 8,314 subscribers in its first year - a 17x jump.
- Substack reached 35 million total active subscriptions by March 2025.
- Weekly is the dominant cadence, used by 46.67% of beehiiv newsletters, versus 27.15% monthly.
- beehiiv creators earned 19 million dollars in paid-subscription revenue in 2025, up 138% year over year.
Open rates: higher, but noisier
1. beehiiv newsletters averaged a 41.24% open rate in 2025
beehiiv's State of Newsletters report found the platform-wide average open rate reached 41.24% in 2025, up from 37.67% in 2024. That is a strong headline number, but part of the rise reflects privacy-driven open inflation rather than pure engagement gains - which is why clicks matter more than ever.
2. GetResponse's newsletter average open rate is 40.08%
GetResponse's email marketing benchmarks put the average newsletter open rate at 40.08% across its customer base. Two independent platforms landing near 40% suggests that is roughly where a healthy, engaged newsletter now sits - a useful yardstick when you judge your own list.
3. Mailchimp's all-industry average open rate is 35.63%
Mailchimp's cross-industry benchmarks report an average open rate of 35.63%. The gap between this and the 40%+ figures from newsletter-native platforms hints that dedicated newsletter audiences tend to be more engaged than general marketing lists.
4. HubSpot cites a 42.35% average open rate - but MPP inflates it by ~18 points
HubSpot reports an average open rate of 42.35%, while noting Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates opens by roughly 18 points. Apple pre-fetches images to mask real opens, registering an open whether or not the subscriber ever looked. This is the single biggest reason open rate has become an unreliable metric.
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Clicks and click-to-open: the truer signal
5. beehiiv's average click-through rate fell to 3.23% in 2025
beehiiv's average CTR dropped to 3.23% in 2025, down from 4.74% in 2024. Opens rose while clicks fell - a divergence that tells the real story: inflated opens mask softening genuine engagement, and clicks are where the truth shows.
6. GetResponse newsletters see a 3.84% CTR and a 9.57% click-to-open
GetResponse reports an average newsletter click-through rate of 3.84% with a 9.57% click-to-open rate. Click-to-open - clicks as a share of opens - is the metric MPP cannot inflate, which makes it the most reliable gauge of whether your content actually resonates.
7. HubSpot shows a 2.3% average CTR and a 5.3% click-to-open
HubSpot's benchmarks report a 2.3% average click-through rate and a 5.3% click-to-open rate. The spread between HubSpot's and GetResponse's figures underlines that "average" depends heavily on audience and industry - benchmark against comparable senders, not the global mean.
8. Automated beehiiv emails earn 13.48% CTR versus 4.59% for regular posts
beehiiv found automated emails - welcome sequences and triggered flows - drove a 13.48% click-through rate versus 4.59% for regular posts in 2024. Timely, behavior-triggered mail nearly triples engagement, which is why automation is one of the highest-leverage moves a newsletter can make.
Subscriber growth and scale
9. New newsletter creation on beehiiv grew 96.2% year over year
beehiiv saw new newsletter creation nearly double, climbing 96.2% year over year, from 26,911 to 52,809. The format is not just surviving - it is drawing a wave of new operators, which means more competition for attention in every inbox.
10. The median beehiiv newsletter grew from 482 to 8,314 subscribers in year one
beehiiv reported the median newsletter grew from 482 to 8,314 subscribers in its first year - roughly a 17x increase. Early growth can be steep, but sustaining it depends on those new subscribers actually receiving and engaging with the mail, not just signing up.
11. Newsletters in beehiiv's recommendation network grew 2.75x faster
Newsletters participating in beehiiv's recommendation network grew 2.75x faster than those outside it. Cross-promotion between related newsletters has become one of the most effective growth channels - a compounding loop that paid acquisition rarely matches.
12. Substack reached 35 million total active subscriptions
Substack reported 35 million total active subscriptions as of March 2025. The scale of the broader newsletter economy is now measured in tens of millions of active reader relationships - direct, portable audiences that no algorithm can throttle.
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By industry and B2B versus B2C
13. B2B Services average 39.48% open and 2.21% CTR
HubSpot's industry data shows B2B Services newsletters average 39.48% open and 2.21% click-through. Solid opens paired with modest clicks is typical of professional audiences - they scan attentively but act selectively, so relevance beats volume.
14. SaaS emails average 38.14% open but just 1.19% CTR
SaaS newsletters average 38.14% open but only 1.19% click-through in HubSpot's data - one of the lowest click rates of any category. High opens with low clicks is a warning that content is being seen but not compelling action, a gap worth diagnosing before scaling sends.
15. Non-profits open highest at 40.04%, ecommerce lowest at 29.81%
In Mailchimp's benchmarks, non-profit newsletters open at 40.04% while ecommerce sits lowest at 29.81%. Mission-driven audiences engage more readily than promotion-weary shoppers - a reminder that your baseline is set by your category, not the global average.
16. Email ROI runs 45:1 for retail, 42:1 for agencies, 36:1 for software, 32:1 for media
Litmus's industry breakdown puts email return on investment at 45:1 for retail and ecommerce, 42:1 for agencies, 36:1 for software, and 32:1 for media. Even the lowest band dwarfs other channels - but every ratio assumes the email actually lands, which is what deliverability protects.
Frequency and timing
17. About 70% of opens and 85% of clicks happen within 24 hours
GetResponse found roughly 70% of opens and 85% of clicks occur within 24 hours of sending. A newsletter's fate is largely sealed on day one - which is exactly why landing in the Primary inbox at send time, rather than spam or Promotions, is so decisive.
18. Weekly is the dominant cadence at 46.67%
beehiiv reports 46.67% of newsletters send weekly, 27.15% monthly, and just 1.37% daily. Weekly has become the default rhythm - frequent enough to stay familiar to subscribers and mailbox filters, but sustainable enough to maintain quality over the long run.
19. Tuesday is the best send day (38.25% open); 11 AM UTC is the peak hour (42.87%)
beehiiv's analysis found Tuesday delivered the highest open rate at 38.25%, and 11 AM UTC peaked at 42.87%. Timing is a real lever, but a modest one - it only helps if the message clears the filters and reaches the inbox in the first place.
20. Subject lines of 20 or fewer characters open at 37.6% versus 28.68% for 80+
beehiiv found short subject lines win: 20 characters or fewer opened at 37.6%, versus 28.68% for 80-plus characters - nearly a 9-point gap. Concise, curiosity-driven subject lines both read better on mobile and avoid the spammy-looking length that filters scrutinize.
Monetization: the revenue at stake
21. Substack surpassed 5 million paid subscriptions
Substack crossed 5 million paid subscriptions in March 2025. Paid newsletters have moved from novelty to a genuine income stream for tens of thousands of writers - and every paid subscriber is a relationship that only pays out if the mail keeps arriving.
22. More than 50,000 publications are earning money on Substack
Substack reported that more than 50,000 publications were earning money as of March 2025. The monetized newsletter is no longer a handful of star writers - it is a broad economy, and deliverability is the utility bill that keeps all of it running.
23. beehiiv creators earned 19 million dollars in paid-subscription revenue, up 138%
beehiiv creators earned 19 million dollars in paid-subscription revenue in 2025, up 138% from 8 million the prior year. Revenue more than doubled in a single year - and every dollar of it depends on newsletters landing in front of the subscribers paying for them.
24. Email returns 36 to 50 dollars or more per 1 dollar spent
Litmus reports email ROI of 36 to 50 dollars or more per 1 dollar spent, with 30% of companies in the 36-to-50 band and 5% above 50. The elite tier is reached only by senders whose email actually reaches the inbox - deliverability is the difference between average and exceptional newsletter economics.
What this means: the newsletter playbook
Stop trusting open rate; watch clicks. Open rates near 40% look healthy, but Apple's Mail Privacy Protection inflates them by roughly 18 points - and beehiiv's own data shows clicks falling to 3.23% even as opens rose. Click-to-open rate is the one engagement metric MPP cannot fake. Judge your content by clicks, not opens.
Automate your highest-value sends. Automated beehiiv emails earned 13.48% CTR against 4.59% for regular posts - nearly triple. Welcome flows and behavior-triggered sequences reach subscribers at their moment of peak interest. If you run only broadcast sends, you are leaving your most engaged moments untapped.
Grow through the network, not just the funnel. Newsletters in beehiiv's recommendation network grew 2.75x faster, and the median newsletter still 17x'd in year one. Cross-promotion with adjacent newsletters compounds in a way paid acquisition rarely does - but only if new subscribers keep receiving your mail after they join.
Send weekly, on a consistent rhythm. Weekly is the dominant cadence at 46.67%, Tuesday mornings perform best, and 70% of opens happen within 24 hours. A predictable schedule builds the engagement history mailbox providers reward. Erratic or sudden high-volume sending is exactly what pushes newsletters out of the Primary inbox.
Protect the revenue by protecting the inbox. beehiiv creators earned 19 million dollars in 2025, Substack passed 5 million paid subscriptions, and email returns up to 50 dollars per 1. Every one of those numbers assumes the newsletter arrives. Before you scale sends or launch a paid tier, test your real inbox placement so the audience you worked to build actually sees what you send.