With the rapid advancement of digital media, China’s digital economy has emerged as a powerful driver of high-quality economic development. This study investigates the influence of urban digital transformation on economic growth efficiency within the context of the digital media era. Using panel data from Chinese cities spanning 2011 to 2019, we employ a double fixed-effects model and a spatial Durbin model to empirically examine how digital industrialization and industrial digitization shape urban economic growth efficiency. The empirical results demonstrate that both digital industrialization and industrial digitization significantly improve the efficiency of urban economic growth in China’s digital media environment. The positive relationship is particularly pronounced in cities with higher levels of digitization, while for less-digitized cities, digital industrialization exerts a more substantial effect on economic growth efficiency. Furthermore, the analysis reveals significant spatial spillover effects, indicating that digital industrialization and industrial digitization not only enhance local growth efficiency but also stimulate economic development in neighboring regions. These findings provide important insights for policymakers and urban planners, emphasizing the necessity of tailoring digital development strategies to cities at different stages of digitization and strengthening regional collaboration and integrated governance to foster inclusive and sustainable digital transformation across China’s urban economy.