Nearly 100% of internet users in Brazil use WhatsApp, more than any other messaging app or service, according to January 2016 research conducted by Ilumeo and Nova/sb. Nearly nine in 10 of those surveyed also said they use Facebook Messenger.
Half of respondents use Skype; about 30% use Twitter. After that, apps grow more obscure or niche—like Snapchat, which 13% of those surveyed say they used in 2015.
According to eMarketer, about 34% of Brazil’s population uses mobile messaging apps, roughly the same as throughout the whole of Latin America, though lower than neighboring Argentina and Mexico. However, when considering mobile phone internet users, nearly 76% use mobile messaging apps.
That figure is actually slightly lower than the regional average, and behind Argentina’s nearly 83%.
But if penetration rates are lower in Brazil, its growth is set to be the strongest among the three nations in 2016, at nearly 18.1%—that’s also higher than the regional average. eMarketer also estimates that there were 52.4 million mobile messaging app users in Brazil in 2015, a figure that will climb to 62.7 million in 2016.
eMarketer forecasts that by 2019, that user base will climb to 77.0 million, making up about a third of the region’s projected 230.7 million-member chat app audience.
And that’s good news for advertisers: Over half of smartphone messaging app users surveyed say they would be open to receiving ads in exchange for keeping messaging apps free.
So in Brazil, it seems that the desire for messaging apps is growing, even as some apps reach near-total usage in the population.