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Revue de l’année 2021: Which publishers dominated the Google News Boxes in France?

With the French  presidential elections just being over and the news-publishers finally getting some rest again, let’s take a look at what happened in the Google News Boxes in 2021. Who dominated which ranking? What did each News Box category look like? And what has changed in the last five years? Êtes-vous prêt? Allons-y!

As always all ranking data is based on our crawling interval of 15 minutes – monitoring the news as they break. Furthermore, you should be aware of our weighted visibility taking in consideration not only if there is a News Box ranking but also how visible the ranking is to the user. For this analysis we chose only our freshest keywords – based on the most newsworthy and trending Google News and Trends topics. This makes comparing competitors a breeze. If you want to find out more about your own SEO statistics contact us now.

 

News Box Rankings 2021

First we’re going to take a look at the year 2021, both for desktop and mobile News Boxes.

Desktop News Box 2021: Le Monde and France Info dominate the rankings

 

These are the top five publishers in the Desktop News Box 2021. The publishers represented are 20 Minutes, BFM TV, France Info, Le Figaro and Le Monde. Le Monde starts the year off in first place. Their curve has its peak in June and after that it falls onto second place. For August and September it remained there, then it rises to first place again, only to fall down after. In November and December, Le Monde is in second place. France Info starts 2021 in second place and their curve remains very flat for the first half of the year. Then, in July, it starts to rise until it reaches its peak in August. After that it falls in October and rises back up in November and December. At the end of the year, France Info can call the pole position its own. While France Info and Le Monde are quite far above, the other three competitors are very closely knit together. Le Figaro starts in place three at the beginning of the year. After a slight rise in February, there is a minor fall in their curve, but it can catch itself again and remains relatively flat for the remainder of the year. Le Figaro finishes 2021 in third place. 20 Minutes is in fourth place at the beginning of the year. Their curve is very flat from January until April. Then, in May, there is a slight downfall, which happens again in August. After that, their curve goes up again and reaches its peak in October. Then it goes down again and 20 Minutes ends up in fifth place at the end of the year. BFM TV starts in fifth place and reaches its peak in April. After that it gradually falls until August and then gradually rises again. BFM TV finishes the year in fourth place.

In the desktop News Box, Le Monde and France Info are both pretty high above their competitors with Le Monde winning the race overall. On position three to five, there is quite a tight race going on between Le Figaro, 20 Minutes and BFM TV. Overall, the most outstanding part of the graph is the continual change of France Info and Le Monde between the first and second place starting in July 2021 and continuing for the remainder of the year.

Top five publishers measured by number of rankings

  1. Le Monde
  2. France Info
  3. Le Figaro
  4. 20 Minutes
  5. BFM TV

Overall ranking in each category

 

Mobile News Box 2021: Le Monde goes from zero to hero

 

These are the top five publishers in the Mobile News Box 2021. The publishers represented here are 20 Minutes, BFM TV, France Info, Le Figaro and Le Monde. France Info is on top of the ranking. In February they reach their peak, which is also the peak of the entire ranking. Though, immediately after that, in March, their curve falls down but can catch itself again in April. From then on until July, France Info’s curve is very even. Then, in August, it rises up again, only to drastically fall down and reach its lowest point in October. This brings France Info in second place. Luckily, the curve rises again immediately and brings them onto pole position once again for the remainder of the year. Le Figaro starts the year off in second place. Very close behind is 20 Minutes in place three. Both publishers’ curves only display slight movement for the first half of the year, and they alternate between second and third place. Then, in July, 20 Minutes’ curve bends downwards for two months, but is able to rise again until October. For the remainder of the year their curve slightly falls again, leading to them ending up in place five. Le Figaro’s curve continues to be quite even for the entirety of the year. Only in the last two months it slightly rises. They end 2021 in place three. BFM TV starts the year off in place four. Except for when they experience a slight peak in April, their curve is flat. In the last three months of the year, it rises continuously though, so that they end up in fourth place. Le Monde starts in fifth place. In February, their curve falls down drastically to the overall bottom point of the top five’s rankings. From there on, though, their curve rises continuously and overtakes BFM TV, 20 Minutes and Le Figaro on its way. It then flattens, but due to first position France Info’s downward curve in October, Le Monde can call the pole position its own for that month. They end 2021 in second place.

Let’s now look at the data we collected for the mobile News Box in 2021. Flying high above the competition is France Info. That is, at least, until September, when Le Monde displays a heavy ascent from last to first place. At the end of the year, France Info wins the pole position again after all. 20 Minutes and Le Figaro are in a close head-to-head all year long, with Le Figaro winning by a margin. Place five goes to BFM TV.

Top five publishers measured by number of rankings

  1. France Info
  2. Le Figaro
  3. 20 Minutes
  4. Le Monde
  5. BFM TV

Overall ranking in each category

  • À la une (Top Stories): France Info ; Le Figaro ; Le Monde ; 20 Minutes ; BFM TV
  • France: France Info ; Le Monde ; Le Figaro ; BFM TV ; 20 Minutes
  • International (World): 20 Minutes ; Le Monde ; France Info ; Le Figaro ; TF1 info
  • Économie (Business): Les Échos ; Boursorama ; Le Figaro ; France Info ; BFM TV
  • Sciences et technologies (Science and Technology): Frandroid ; Journal du Geek ; Les Numériques ; 01net ; Jeuxvideo.com
  • Divertissements (Entertainment): Voci ; Télé-Loisirs ; Gala ; Le Figaro ; Public
  • Sports: L’Équipe ; Foot Mercato ; Eurosport ; Le 10 Sport ; Ouest-France
  • Santé (Health): France Info ; TF1 info ; Le Monde ; 20 Minutes ; Ouest-France
  • COVID-19: France Info ; Le Monde ; TF1 info ; BFM TV ; Ouest-France

 

Comparison to 2017

So, a lot has happened in 2021’s News Boxes. But how did the whole thing look five years ago, in 2017? Let’s examine!

Desktop News Box 2017: Le Monde alias le mont noir

 

These are the top five publishers in the Desktop News Box in 2017. The publishers represented are 20 Minutes, Le Figaro, Le Monde, Le Parisien and L’Équipe. Le Monde starts the year off in a super close second place but claims first place immediately after in February. In March, its curve starts to rise quite drastically, and it reaches its peak in May. At this point it clearly stands out from the other competitors’ curves. Then, starting in June, Le Monde’s curves begins to fall again, landing them second place in August. After that, the curve gradually starts rising again and in the end, Le Monde finishes 2017 in first place. L’Équipe is the publisher that starts the year off in close first place, just above Le Monde. In February, their curve falls into second place but rises again in April and reaches its peak in June. After that it slightly falls again, though due to Le Monde’s downfall, they can shortly claim first place in August. Following that, L’Équipe’s curve gradually falls and they finish the year in fourth place. 20 Minutes starts 2017 in third place. Starting in February, their curve gradually rises and reaches its peak in April. In May it falls back down into fourth place and remains relatively flat for the remainder of the year. It switches between third and fourth place due to movements in its competitors’ curves and eventually ends the year in second place. Le Figaro starts off January in fourth place. Their curve stays really flat until June, but due to Le Parisien, who start in place five, overtaking them in March, they are in fifth place until September. In July, Le Figaro’s curve starts rising gradually at first and then drastically into second place in October and November. In December, their curve falls down quite steeply again though, putting them in third place. Le Parisien’s curve rises in March and remains flat until June. At this point, they are in third place. In July, their curve begins to fall very gradually and then flattens in October. At this point they are in fifth place, which is where they remain for the rest of the year.

The most obvious curve in this graph is Le Monde’s. With its peak in May 2017, it stands far above all other publishers in that tier. Afterwards, the curve falls quite strongly though, putting them in second place for the month of August. Luckily, they can recover shortly thereafter and remain in first place for the remainder of the year. In November, Le Figaro also displays an obvious peak in its curve, leading to them ranking in second place in that month. In December, they fall back down on third place unfortunately. The fifth place goes to on of France’s most renowned publishers Le Parisien, who did not make it into 2021’s News Boxes.

Top five publishers measured by number of rankings

Below you can see the top five publishers in 2017 measured by their number of rankings and for better comparison, you find the publishers on the same position in 2021 in the blue brackets.

  1. Le Monde (Le Monde)
  2. L’Équipe (France Info)
  3. 20 Minutes (Le Figaro)
  4. Le Figaro (20 Minutes)
  5. Le Parisien (BFM TV)

Mobile News Box 2017: 20 Minutes’ winning year


These are the top five publishers in the Mobile News Box 2017. The publishers represented are 20 Minutes, Le Monde, Le Parisien, Le Point and Ouest-France. The publishers’ curves this year are mostly quite clearly separated. 20 Minutes starts in first place and reaches its peak (as well as the overall peak of the graph) in April. After that, their curve falls down and stays flat until August. In September it slightly rises again and then slightly falls. 20 Minutes does not once give up first position throughout the year 2017. In second place is Le Parisien. Their curve rises in March and remains relatively flat until June. In July it slightly falls but after that it remains even for the rest of the year. They never leave second position in 2017. The other three publishers’ curves at least intersect. Le Monde starts the year off in third place and slightly rises until April. In June, their curve falls quite steeply until they are in fifth place in August. After that it rises again slightly and then steeply in November. In December it falls again, putting them in fifth place very closely behind the other two competitors. Ouest-France starts in fourth place. Immediately after, their curve rises to third place in February and March, then very slightly falls to fourth place in April and May and then slightly rises again. From June to October they are in third place. Then, in November, their curve falls down to fifth place and can only slightly catch itself, so that they end up just in fourth place. Le Point starts in fifth place and their curve falls quite far behind the others’ until June. In July, it rises so that in August they are shortly in fourth place. In November there is another rise and in December Le Point ends up in close third place.

20 Minutes dominated the mobile News Boxes for the entirety of 2017. Except of a slight dip in May, their curve stays quite even. Relatively closely in second place follows Le Parisien. Places three, four and five go to Ouest-France, Le Monde and Le Point. The only two publishers that remained in the  highly contested top five of the mobile News boxes in 2021 (in comparison to 2017) are 20 Minutes and Le Monde.

Top five publishers measured by rankings

Again the hint: the blue brackets show you the publishers in the same places in 2021.

  1. 20 Minutes (France Info)
  2. Le Parisien (Le Figaro)
  3. Ouest-France (20 Minutes)
  4. Le Monde (Le Monde)
  5. Le Point (BFM TV)

 

Five-Year Review (2017-2021)

Lastly, let’s have a look at the five-year-reviews of both the desktop and mobile News Box to examine the course of the top five publishers’ rankings from 2017 to 2021.

 

Desktop News Box (2017-2021)

 

These are the top five publishers in the Desktop News Box from January 2017 to December 2021. The publishers represented are 20 Minutes, France Info, Le Figaro, Le Monde and L’Équipe. L’Équipe starts in first place, then falls down into second place and, apart from a few fluctuations, generally decreases. In August and September 2018, they reach their lowest point, as well as the lowest point in the graph overall. Then their curve rises again to get closer to the other publishers’, but in general it remains in place four or five. At the end of 2021, they are in fifth place. Le Monde starts 2017 off very closely behind L’Équipe in second place. They have a peak in May 2017 and fallback down afterwards. Their absolute highest point, as well as the graph’s highest point in general, is in July and August 2018, almost at the same time as L’Équipe had their lowest point. After this peak, Le Monde falls back down and from the end of 2018 until August 2020, their curve shows no obvious peaks and fluctuates between places two to four. From September 2020 to June 2021, they are in first place, then drop down again slightly and in the end they finish 2021 in second place. 20 Minutes starts 2017 off in third place. Their curve remains quite stable until May 2018 and in June their curve rises drastically, only to fall down again in October 2018. After that, their curve shows little fluctuation but due to the other publishers’ movements, it is in first place occasionally. Beginning in January 2020, their curve slightly but gradually falls and they finish 2021 in fourth place. Le Figaro starts 2017 in fourth place. They have a peak in November 2017 and their lowest point in April 2018. Their highest point is in September 2018, though their curve is still quite far below the other publishers’, with the exception of L’Équipe’s. From then on until November 2019, their curve falls gradually. After that, it rises slightly, putting them in third place at the end of 2021. Last but not least, France Info starts 2017 off in fifth place. Their curve has quite a few ups and downs throughout the measured time. The most interesting time, as with the other publishers, is from June 2018 to September 2018, where they reach a very obvious peak. After that, their curve also falls down, bringing them in last place briefly. Then, their curve rises with a few fluctuations and they end up in first place at the end of 2021.

The rankings are tightly interwoven. Let’s therefore focus on the protruding part: What is going on in the timespan from May until November 2018? Le Monde experiences its absolute peak (plus the highest rankings of the entire five-year-span) in June and July 2018. Both France Info and 20 Minutes also had their peaks at that time and almost skyrocket from May to June. As if this wasn’t interesting enough, for L’Équipe you can see the exact opposite phenomenon: In July 2018 they suddenly plummet far below their competitors for two months and then suddenly do up again – fascinating! Our best guess that it had something to do with one of the biggest Google Core updates yet in the summer of 2018.

Top five publishers measured by number of rankings

Here, you can compare the publishers in each place with the ones in the same place in 2021 (blue) and 2017 (red):

  1. Le Monde (Le Monde Le Monde)
  2. France Info (France Info | L’Équipe)
  3. 20 Minutes (Le Figaro | 20 Minutes)
  4. Le Figaro (20 Minutes | Le Figaro)
  5. L’Équipe (BFM TV | Le Parisien)

 

Mobile News Box (2017-2021)

 

Alright, we’re almost done. Lastly, let’s have a look at the five-year-review in the mobile News Box.

These are the top five publishers in the Mobile News Box from January 2017 to December 2021. The publishers represented are 20 Minutes, France Info, Le Monde, Le Parisien and Ouest-France. 20 Minutes starts 2017 off in first place, quite far above the other publishers. Their curve remains relatively stable until June 2018, then it suddenly skyrockets and reaches its peak, as well as the overall highest point of the graph. It remains there until October 2018, then gradually falls down, until it gets eventually overtaken to be in second place. In general, their curve does not really shown any significant fluctuation after that, only a gradual sinking. They finish 2021 in third place. Le Parisien starts 2017 off in second place. With no real movement before, their curve shows a drastic peak in June 2018, just as 20 Minute’s did. After that, the curve generally falls, it only has another slight peak in July 2019. They finish 2021 in fifth place. France Info is in third place in January 2017, then quite drastically falls down into last place. After a few more slight peaks, where they are briefly in fourth place again, they remain in fifth place until May 2019, quite far below their competitors. Then, their curve does an almost vertical jump into first place, where it remains for almost the entirety of the rest of the measured time. They finish 2021 in first place. Le Monde starts 2017 off in fourth place, very closely after France Info. Their curve has a slight low point in August 2017, but can catch itself again after. In June 2018, it shows a peak, it is just not as obvious as their competitors’. After that the curve stays quite stable and rises into third place in September 2020. Immediately after, though, they reach their absolute lowest point in February 2021. Luckily, they are able to rise all the way up from there and finish the ranking in close second place at the end of 2021. Ouest-France starts 2017 off in fifth place, but they can quickly claim third place for themselves. Their peak is a bit more short-lived than the other ones’ and only remains for the month of June 2018. After they fall back down from that peak, their curve stays quite even for the remainder of the measured time-span. they finish the ranking in fourth place, extremely close behind 20 Minutes.

Similar to the desktop News Box, the year 2018 kind of juts out for most of the top five publishers. 20 Minutes reaches its own as well as the overall peak from June to September 2018 and then falls down again. Le Parisien displays a similar behaviour, though their curve is overall a bit lower than 20 Minutes’. Ouest-France and Le Monde show slight peaks at that time, but they are not as noticeable as their two competitors’ ones. France Info stays consistent at the same time. Their curve shows a highly interesting twist in 2019 though: In July they skyrocket from last to first place and stay at the top for almost the entirety of the following measured time.

Top five publishers measured by number of rankings

Just to remind you: the publishers on the same places in 2021 are displayed in blue and the ones in 2017 are displayed in red.

  1. 20 Minutes (France Info 20 Minutes)
  2. France Info (Le Figaro Le Parisien)
  3. Le Parisien (20 Minutes Ouest-France)
  4. Le Monde (Le Monde Le Monde)
  5. Ouest-France (BFM TV Le Point)

 

Final thoughts:

 

2021 was a turbulent year. A lot has happened in France and the world and, accordingly, a lot has happened in the field of news.

The overall winner in the desktop News Box in 2021 was Le Monde, in the mobile News Box that award goes to France Info. The French publisher that was overall most represented in both the mobile and desktop News Boxes in 2021 was (drumroll, please…) France Info! Furthermore, Le Figaro, Le Monde and 20 Minutes performed great in both areas, too. Félicitations!

In terms of variety, France Info again performs magnificent: In the mobile News Box they are in the top five in six out of nine categories, in the desktop News Box in five out of nine. Other noteworthy publishers that showed great variety in 2021 are Le Figaro, 20 Minutes, Le Monde and BMF TV.

Congratulations to all the above mentioned publishers that made it into the top five. Great job!

Au revoir et à bientôt.

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