Executive Summary
82% of Internet users have made voice/video calls online
In 2023, around 82.4% of Internet users made voice or video calls using this type of access, 0.9 percentage points (p.p.) more than in 2022. This was the lowest annual growth since 2015.
Portugal remained above the EU27 average (+7.2 p.p.) and ranked 8th in the use of this type of service.
If we consider all individuals, not just those with Internet access, the penetration of these services would be 70.7%, 1.9 p.p. above the European average. Portugal ranks 15th in the EU27, a significant improvement compared to 2019, when it was last in this ranking.
Instant messaging penetration reached 92% of Internet users
Instant messaging was used by 92.2% of Internet users, 10.3 p.p. above the EU27 average and ranking 8th . If we consider all individuals, not just Internet users, the penetration of this service in Portugal is 79.1%. From this perspective, Portugal is 4.2 p.p. above the European average and ranks 13th in the EU27.
42% of Internet users subscribed to paid video streaming services
The latest information, for 2022, shows that 42.3% of Internet users have subscribed to video streaming on demand services (+8.6 p.p. compared to 2020), placing Portugal 16th in the EU27 ranking. If we consider all individuals, not just Internet users, the penetration of these services in Portugal would be 35.8% in 2022 (+9.4 p.p. compared to 2020), placing Portugal 17th in the EU27.
Social media use above EU average
Among other over-the-top services, reading news online (79.7%), participating in social media (79.3%), listening to music online (72.6%) and Internet banking (68.6%) stood out as having a high level of participation among Internet users in Portugal in 2023. The use of social media in Portugal was significantly higher than the EU27 average (+14.5 p.p.). On the other hand, the use of e-commerce and Internet banking was less popular in Portugal than in the EU27. Searching for health information (63.6%) was one of the services analysed that grew most among Internet users compared to the previous year (+5.1 p.p.), even exceeding the EU27 average (+2.1 p.p.).
In terms of regional distribution, Internet users in the Lisbon Metropolitan Region had the highest proportion of Internet banking users (73.0%). At the other end of the scale, the Alentejo and the Autonomous Region of the Azores (63.1% and 64.1% respectively) were the regions with the lowest use of this service.
Profile of users of OTT services in Portugal similar to that of the EU27
With regard to the socio-demographic characteristics of over-the-top users, younger people, people with a higher education and students were more likely to use the different OTT services analysed, in line with the EU27 average. However, in 2023, there was an increase in the use of some over-the-top services by certain groups characterised by a lower level of use of these services, such as those with a lower level of education for voice calls or those with a secondary level of education for instant messaging.
