Tiago Bianchi
Research expert covering internet & gaming in Latin America and Spain
Brazilians are simply wired to messaging apps. With over 92 percent of its 170 million internet users in the country using these applications, online messaging is already an extension of most communications in the country, being the primary channel for Brazilians to interact with each other and with content shared online. The success of instant messengers in Brazil is such, that it has long extrapolated the lines of personal connections, allowing these solutions to establish themselves as tools for contacting brands and services, and therefore a powerful channel for digital advertising and e-commerce.
Apart from WhatsApp, Meta’s dominance is reinforced by Facebook’s own Messenger and the expansion of Instagram’s Direct service. However, most of WhatsApp’s competitors experienced growth since 2021, after a review of the app’s privacy policy. This particularly favored Telegram, which is now installed on more than 65 percent of smartphones in the country, becoming WhatsApp's biggest contender. Still, alternative apps like privacy-focused Signal seem to have either lost their momentum or have little development on their audiences. Meanwhile, more segmented options like Discord seemingly established their own niche among the gaming community.
This landscape makes messengers work as potent mediums for distributing and sharing all kinds of online content. Social media in general is used by 57 percent of internet users in Brazil for news consumption, a fact that pushed all kinds of platforms into the hurricane’s eye of the country’s online political discussion. While in-app tools like groups and channels grew in popularity, the flexibility and Brazilian “jeitinho” (roughly translated as the “little Brazilian way to improvise solutions”) turned messaging apps into more than communication platform among peers, but as a growing and promising platform for establishing and making business.
And of course, WhatsApp is again the showcase for how messengers can be incorporated into any sector in Brazil. Being the first among these applications to offer a business version in 2019 and being allowed to perform mobile payments in mid-2023, almost four out of five of its local users already communicate with brands and companies via the app, and more than half already bought products or contracted services through the messenger. As WhatsApp already appears among the most used m-commerce apps in the country, its innate potential for advertising is already flourishing in Brazil.
A matter of lifestyle
Meta-owned applications have a long and strong hegemony in Brazil, being among the most popular apps among smartphone users in the country. Despite the increase in messaging options for Brazilians, WhatsApp is used by more than 93 percent of local social media users, kindly being nicknamed ‘zap-zap’ among other friendly monikers. Its absolute success in Latin America’s biggest internet and social media market is the perfect example of how messaging integrates into its lifestyle and activities.Apart from WhatsApp, Meta’s dominance is reinforced by Facebook’s own Messenger and the expansion of Instagram’s Direct service. However, most of WhatsApp’s competitors experienced growth since 2021, after a review of the app’s privacy policy. This particularly favored Telegram, which is now installed on more than 65 percent of smartphones in the country, becoming WhatsApp's biggest contender. Still, alternative apps like privacy-focused Signal seem to have either lost their momentum or have little development on their audiences. Meanwhile, more segmented options like Discord seemingly established their own niche among the gaming community.
How do Brazilians use messaging apps?
The astounding penetration of online messengers within Brazil’s vast market and eager users makes the country a natural bet for companies providing these solutions. After all, sending instant messages is the main online activity for over nine out of 10 Brazilian internet users, as instant messengers are the most used type of platform in the country. The way local social users employ messaging apps provides a faithful portrait of social media usage in the country, especially when considering that keeping in touch with friends and family is the primary reason for accessing these platforms.This landscape makes messengers work as potent mediums for distributing and sharing all kinds of online content. Social media in general is used by 57 percent of internet users in Brazil for news consumption, a fact that pushed all kinds of platforms into the hurricane’s eye of the country’s online political discussion. While in-app tools like groups and channels grew in popularity, the flexibility and Brazilian “jeitinho” (roughly translated as the “little Brazilian way to improvise solutions”) turned messaging apps into more than communication platform among peers, but as a growing and promising platform for establishing and making business.
Chat talks, money walks
It was a matter of time before messengers merged into business-making in Brazil, be it for ordering food, providing client support, or whatever use its local users could think of. After evolving to offer proper business versions as far back as 2019, and recently being allowed to perform mobile payments, mainstream messaging apps are establishing themselves as natural B2C solutions, from the country’s smallest enterprises to its major companies, offering products and services via their interfaces.And of course, WhatsApp is again the showcase for how messengers can be incorporated into any sector in Brazil. Being the first among these applications to offer a business version in 2019 and being allowed to perform mobile payments in mid-2023, almost four out of five of its local users already communicate with brands and companies via the app, and more than half already bought products or contracted services through the messenger. As WhatsApp already appears among the most used m-commerce apps in the country, its innate potential for advertising is already flourishing in Brazil.
