“According to this study, 89% of internet users in Portugal currently use the WhatsApp application and 10% receive and read newspapers or magazines through this platform,” Netsonda said in a statement. Daily newspapers (12%) and TV and celebrity magazines (10%) are the most read and shared in the application.

WhatsApp boosts up to 6.5 times the reach of newspapers and magazines in Portugal, especially in sports newspapers, motor magazines and hard news, when compared to the numbers of the printed versions.

The study also concluded that, considering the average number of newspapers and magazines printed and the readings through WhatsApp, economy, motor magazines, sports and hard news magazines are the ones that show the greatest growth in terms of sharing and reading in the application.

This result was impacted “by the low variation between the average number of weekly impressions and WhatsApp readings”.

In the case of weekly newspapers, the reach caused by the application allows a gain of 181%, compared to the average of weekly impressions.