What is Emol?
Emol is a Chilean general news site. Its own pages carry the publisher in both the footer and the document metadata as El Mercurio S.A.P., and describe the site as “El sitio de noticias online de Chile”.[1] That description is the site's own and is reported here as such.
El Mercurio S.A.P. is the publishing company of the newspaper group Infoamérica, the media research centre of the Universidad de Málaga, calls the Grupo Mercurio, and whose history it summarises as “La historia del Grupo Mercurio es la historia de la familia Edwards”. Infoamérica dates El Mercurio de Valparaíso to 1827 and El Mercurio de Santiago to June 1900, lists Últimas Noticias (1902), El Mercurio de Antofagasta (1906), La Estrella de Valparaíso (1921) and La Segunda (1931) among the group's titles, and puts the regional chain at fourteen mastheads.[2] Those are Infoamérica's figures and dates, not the company's own.
Reporters Without Borders, in its country file on Chile, names El Mercurio and La Tercera as “The main newspapers” and states of the market as a whole that “Although the mass media seems to offer a degree of diversity, most of the outlets are owned by the same business groups.”[3] RSF places Chile 70th of 180 with a score of 60.84 in its 2026 Press Freedom Index, against 69th and 62.25 in 2025.[3]
What does Emol cover?
Emol's own navigation gives its principal sections as Nacional, Economía, Deportes, Mundo, Espectáculos, Tendencias, Autos and Servicios.[1] Sport therefore sits on a path of the general news site rather than on a separate domain.
Its sport reporting is staff-written and bylined to the Deportes section. On 14 October 2025, under the byline Felipe Santibáñez and the section head Deportes, Emol reported the settlement between the Asociación Nacional de Fútbol Profesional and TNT Sports of a 34,000 million peso debt arising from matches not played in 2019 and 2020, stating that the settlement fixed the amount and the form of payment across the licence contract running to December 2033 and taking effect from January 2026.[4] The same report set out the format of the new Copa de la Liga — sixteen first-division clubs in four groups, the group winners going to semi-finals — and the change of the Supercopa to a four-team format taking in the two finalists of the national tournament and the two finalists of the Copa Chile.[4]
The group's print title is published separately: the digital edition of El Mercurio appears at its own address under the masthead El Mercurio, with its own Deportes section, and prints no founding year on its front page.[5]
How large is Emol's audience?
No audited per-outlet audience figure for Emol could be retrieved. The recognised digital measurement in the Chilean market is Comscore's multi-platform content measurement, and the figures Comscore published for Chile on 31 January 2023 are category figures rather than per-outlet ones: a penetration of “91,1%” for the news and information category, and an average of “71.1 minutos al mes en sitios online de noticias”, which Comscore placed third in Latin America.[6]
In the same release Comscore named BioBio Chile as the news-category leader by unique visitors over May to October 2022, and latercera.com as the site with the highest average minutes per visitor in October 2022; it published no unique-visitor figure for Emol.[6] Those are readings for two fixed periods in 2022, not a current or a continuous series.
Traffic estimates from unaudited third-party tools are not a substitute and are not used here.
Since when has Emol existed?
The site's own pages give no founding date for Emol, and none could be retrieved from a primary source. What the site does state about itself is its publisher, El Mercurio S.A.P., and its development credit “Desarrollo 2021” naming the team that built the current front page — a redesign date, not a launch date.[1]
The publisher's own history is older and is dated by a third party rather than by the company here: Infoamérica puts El Mercurio de Valparaíso at 1827, founded by Félix Vicuña, and El Mercurio de Santiago at June 1900.[2] Those are dates for newspapers, not for the website, and this page keeps them apart.
Why does Emol matter in Chile's sport?
Its place on this list rests on two documented things rather than on any ranking. The first is that it carries a standing Deportes section as one of the site's principal sections, with named staff reporting on the governance of Chilean professional football — the broadcast settlement, the contract term to December 2033 and the competition formats that follow from it.[1][4]
The second is its publisher. RSF's country file names El Mercurio as one of the two main newspapers in a market where, in RSF's words, “most of the outlets are owned by the same business groups”.[3] Infoamérica's account of the same group records fourteen regional mastheads under it.[2] Both statements are the sources' own and are carried here with their attribution.
The competitions its sport desk reports on are the Liga de Primera and the cup competitions run by the ANFP.[4]
References
- Emol — home page: publisher El Mercurio S.A.P. in footer and metadata, section list including Deportes, “Desarrollo 2021” credit. Accessed 2026-09-23.
- Infoamérica (Universidad de Málaga) — Grupos de comunicación: Mercurio, Chile (Edwards family, 1827 Valparaíso, June 1900 Santiago, group titles, fourteen regional mastheads). Accessed 2026-09-23.
- Reporters Without Borders — Chile country file: main newspapers and television channels, ownership concentration, 2026 Press Freedom Index rank 70 and score 60.84. Accessed 2026-09-23.
- Emol Deportes — “La ANFP alcanza millonario acuerdo para saldar deuda con la televisión y confirma creación de inédito torneo” (14 October 2025, Felipe Santibáñez). Accessed 2026-09-23.
- El Mercurio — digital edition front page of 23 September 2026, masthead and section list. Accessed 2026-09-23.
- Comscore — “Crece el consumo de noticias en Chile” (31 January 2023): multi-platform content measurement, category penetration 91.1%, 71.1 minutes a month, May–October 2022 and October 2022 readings. Accessed 2026-09-23.