Every month, Nonli's social listening measures the views generated by Reels on the Instagram accounts of France's regional daily newspapers (the "PQR", presse quotidienne régionale). Here is the February 2026 TOP 40.
The podium didn't move: Le Parisien, Le Dauphiné Libéré, Le Progrès, in that order, same as January. Below it, though, things got busy.
1. The Month's Top 5#
Le Parisien crushes the ranking with 67 million views, more than double the runner-up. Le Dauphiné Libéré follows with 31.5 million and the highest cadence in the table (348 posts, 12.4 a day). Le Progrès completes the podium at 26.8 million.
L'Est Républicain takes 4th place with 25.9 million views from 287 posts, ahead of La Dépêche du Midi (24.5M). Ten posts a day for one, one of the best posts-to-results ratios in the top 10 for the other.
2. The Full TOP 40#
Le Parisien
67,047,781
Le Dauphiné Libéré
31,514,204
Le Progrès
26,807,689
L'Est Républicain
La Dépêche du Midi
L'Indépendant
Sud Ouest
La Provence
Var-Matin
Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace
Ouest-France
Midi Libre
Chaîne nationale des régions
Le Bien Public
La Montagne
Nice-Matin
Le Journal de Saône-et-Loire
Journal L'Alsace
L'Union
Charente Libre
L'Est-Éclair
Le Populaire du Centre
La Voix du Nord
Le Berry Républicain
Le Républicain Lorrain
Le Télégramme
Vosges Matin
Le JDC
La République du Centre
Presse Océan
France-Antilles Guadeloupe
France-Antilles Martinique
Paris-Normandie
L'Yonne Républicaine
La République des Pyrénées
Le Courrier de l'Ouest
La Nouvelle République
Courrier Picard
Le Petit Bleu d'Agen
Le Maine LibreHow to read the "Views per follower" column: 100% means an average post earns as many views as the account has followers. On Instagram, Reels circulate far beyond communities, and the regional press benefits from it more than anyone.
3. What Stands Out#
The move of the month belongs to L'Indépendant. The Catalan daily jumped from 17th to 6th place: 17.3 million views in February against 3.6 million in January, almost a fivefold increase from 90 posts. Each Reel averaged 2.4 times its community size in views. The newsroom found a format that works.
Var-matin tells a similar story in 9th place: just 35 posts, 10.9 million views, and the highest ratio in the top 10 (279.6%). Low volume, content that performs.
L'Est Républicain gained two spots and settled just off the podium. With 287 posts and a 95% ratio, the daily combines cadence and efficiency, a rare profile in this table. Charente Libre is back in 20th place with 1.2 million views. Its February data had been corrected after a reporting issue; the ranking published here uses the corrected figures.
One last number worth the detour: Le Petit Bleu d'Agen shows a 430% ratio with 1,300 followers. At that scale, every Reel that takes off reaches almost exclusively non-followers. That is exactly the lever Reels offer small local newsrooms.
4. Methodology#
The data comes from Nonli's social listening, which continuously tracks the public Instagram accounts of the French regional daily press. The ranking covers views on Reels published between February 1 and 28, 2026. Counters are read at the end of the period; since views keep accruing after publication, small differences with later readings are normal.
In the same series, next month: March 2026 ranking.
This ranking is published every month on this blog and on Nonli's LinkedIn page. To track these metrics for your own accounts and your market, get in touch.