The “sales connes” (#salesconnes) story, is a classic case where a single news moment is seized on by social media, ignites, and then has the flames fanned by content creators. Brigitte Macron, wife of the French president, was caught on camera consoling comedian Ary Abittan over the protests of feminist activists, describing them as ‘dirty bitches’. Ary Abittan has been the subject of a rape investigation, and so the story instantly flared across Instagram.
It’s the sort of thing that has everyone talking, and often leaves traditional media flailing to catch up; but it doesn’t have to be that way. This Media Scan takes a detailed look at how the story sparks and flares, and how traditional media, far from being left behind, have a key role to play.
#salesconnes took Instagram by storm in a matter of hours. For an editorial team, the real question is twofold: how can we make our mark without overplaying the emotion? And how can we respond to what the audience is looking for next: facts, context, understanding?
Media Scan relies on social data collected via Tubular Labs, the global benchmark for video measurement. This Media Scan was conducted on 13 December 2025.
There are snapshots that say a lot about society, not because they reveal some hidden truth, but because they expose the mechanics of attention itself. #salesconnes is one of those: a throw-away comment captured in a corridor, a momentary outburst, that suddenly becomes the story and the focus of heated Instagram debate. The trigger, however brief, is one that leaves no bystanders neutral, and touches on inflammatory issues across the board.
That is precisely why the case is useful. It gives us a chance to study in intense detail just what makes the difference between content that provokes a reaction and content that helps us understand.
This Media Scan is not looking to take sides on the debate, but rather to understand the mechanics of virality, and how media can play their part and turn flashpoints into follow-ups.
To do that we extracted more than 300 videos from the period 8 to 12 December 2025 using Tubular Labs, from across the spectrum, including influencers, media outlets, pure players, politicians, activists, and private individuals. This included 130 videos on Facebook, with more than 5 million views, and 31 videos on TikTok with 2.8 million views. We then drilled down on 50 Instagram videos, representing 14.9 million views and 696,700 engagements including the correlation between video types, views, and engagements generated. What we’re presenting here is effectively the summary; if you are interested in the full study to see its implications for your own content strategy then please contact us.
To do that we extracted more than 300 videos from the period 8 to 12 December 2025 using Tubular Labs, from across the spectrum, including influencers, media outlets, pure players, politicians, activists, and private individuals. This included 130 videos on Facebook, with more than 5 million views, and 31 videos on TikTok with 2.8 million views. We then drilled down on 50 Instagram videos, representing 14.9 million views and 696,700 engagements including the correlation between video types, views, and engagements generated. What we’re presenting here is effectively the summary; if you are interested in the full study to see its implications for your own content strategy then please contact us.
1) Walking through the stages: from flashpoint, to smouldering aftermath
On inspection there are three clear stages to this story. Not three stages of media story, but three stages of evolution across time and platforms. On Instagram, news does not just have a chronology; it has a curve. There is the moment of ignition (at which it becomes shareable), the moment when it spreads (and restructures itself), and the moment when it subsides, which for us is of interest for the traces it leaves. Understanding this process helps narrators and newsrooms understand how a collective emotion transforms into formats, arguments and narratives.
◾See the summary of events from 6 to 12 December at the bottom of this article.
8–9 December: ignition.
In this first window, the media account for 38% of videos, but only 13% of views and 7% of engagements. This moment reminds us that we are in an economy of reflexes. We share instantly, because it is shocking, because it is divisive, because it allows us to take a stand. The implicit promise of the content is not ‘I’ll explain’, it is “look” and, in this case, ‘look, be offended, and take action’.
10–11 December: the fire spreads.
This is where the subject not only reaches a wider audience, but changes intensity. The media might still seem to be a bit of a sideshow, accounting for only 24% of videos, but tellingly that output captures 29% of views and 17% of engagements. We gradually move away from pure emotion and into something more structured: the flashpoint becomes debate, argument, point and counterpoint. This is when we no longer share just to say ‘this is intolerable’ or ‘here’s the proof’, but also to fuel the discussion with facts, distinctions, and context.
12 December: the smouldering remains
On the 12th, we see a clear shift: the media publishes about a third of the videos, but now that output captures 85% of the views and 68% of the engagement. In other words, when the heat of the story dies down a little, the audience is no longer just looking to react: it is looking for content that clarifies (facts, chronology, rules, context). This is where the difference lies: the hype spreads quickly, but it doesn’t build anything on its own. It’s a flash in the pan. Without formats that frame and explain the story, it burns itself out.
These three stages paint a clear picture: on Instagram, the first moment belongs to those who know how to trigger a social reflex. This could have been the case for certain traditional media outlets that loudly and proudly support feminist values, but it was not. In this case, the media regained their appeal only after the initial uproar when part of the public wanted to go further to understand the ins and outs of the Ary Abittan affair.
Discover Media Scan #01 : A president in prison; but what does Sarkozy’s fate tell us about social strategy and French Media
2) The law of concentration: why averages lie
It is tempting to look at a body of data and attempt to calculate an average: average views, average engagement, average performance. On Instagram, however, this is likely to result in seriously skewed misinterpretations.
The collective impression is created by the most viewed videos. Typically in Instagram a handful of videos dominate with five videos in the top 10% accounting for 64.5% of views and 71.3% of engagement. A close look at those super-performing videos show that they come solely from content creators.
This point is crucial, because it is not about individual talent or accident. It is a structural advantage. Creators dominate the top of the distribution because they have a native strength on Instagram; they excel at transforming a flashpoint into a positioning promise, and doing it fast. They know how to produce content that is shared via DM, prompts comments, invites agreement/disagreement, and also encourages people to assert their convictions. On this platform, it is precisely this type of dynamic that sends a video into orbit.
As you can see, several dynamics overlap. This does not mean that the media are doomed to remain banished to the shadows during the peak. In reality, they have not yet fully realised that they can also exist during peaks, provided they master the codes and the promise.
Another dynamic is just as important: that of understanding. In this area, the media have a decisive advantage… if they know how to make it immediately readable and shareable.
Discover Media Scan #02 : How explainers are redrawing the attention map (and what the the Reuters report doesn’t tell us)
3) The battle is fought on the promise, not the brand
A content creator appropriates the term ‘sale conne’ (bitch) by imagining a history lesson in the style of Brigitte Macron. With deliberate irony, he renames famous feminist figures as ‘bitches’ (Simone Veil, Rosa Parks, the suffragettes, Frida Kahlo, Simone de Beauvoir).
To read more, become a member of the Médias Pionniers community.
4) So really, what do people expect from the media?
These three examples are valuable because they show, in very concrete terms, just what the public is looking for from the moment the sparks fly to the point of picking through the aftermath. Applied to the news business these stages represent three different editorial functions and, for an editorial team, three clear opportunities to be useful, without overplaying the emotion.
To read more, become a member of the Médias Pionniers community.
5) From flashpoints to firm followers: building relationships that last
Ultimately, #salesconnes reveals one thing: Instagram is not just a channel, it is an arena where competing promises vie for attention. And in this arena, creators have a structural advantage during the peak, because they convert the event into a stance, a rejection, a fight… This is something that media outlets could also do, depending on their DNA.
To read more, become a member of the Médias Pionniers community.
Access reserved for members of the Médias Pionniers community
This comprehensive Media Scan is now reserved for members of our WhatsApp Strategies group.
In this group, media professionals can:
✅ Strengthen their international monitoring of editorial strategies.
✅ Exchange feedback and best practices.
✅ Discuss concrete, actionable solutions and learn new skills!
‘Médias Pionniers is an inspiring forum for discussion that helps us realise that the future of media lies in sharing innovative ideas, pooling the best thinking in a spirit of solidarity, and a deep conviction that quality information is essential for our communities.’
Participant
Join us!
The selective WhatsApp community that is transforming the media (reserved for working professionals subject to acceptance by Upgrade Media).
◾The #salesconnes affair, in brief
6 December 2025
Ary Abittan’s show ‘Authentique’ at the Folies Bergère (Paris) is interrupted by four activists from #NousToutes, wearing masks bearing the comedian’s image and chanting ‘rapist’.
7 December 2025
Brigitte Macron attends the show and goes backstage, notably with her daughter Tiphaine Auzière. Images are filmed backstage.
8 December 2025
A video clip filmed backstage is published by Public and quickly goes viral, before being withdrawn at the request of the picture agency.
12 December 2025
A television archive from 2013 (Les Enfants de la télé programme, 26 April 2013) on Ary Abittan’s behaviour resurfaces on social media, reigniting a wider discussion about behaviour and consent.
The legal context (2024–2025)
In the case against Ary Abittan, the charges were dismissed on 3 April 2024 and then upheld on appeal on 30 January 2025. The actor had been charged with rape in 2021.
Tubular Labs
Tubular Labs is the leading platform for analysing video content on social media. Using a collection and classification engine that covers millions of videos per day on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and other channels, Tubular measures what the media publishes and, more importantly, how the public reacts.
Media Scan’s methodology
This episode of Media Scan is based on 50 videos posted between 8 and 13 December 2025 on Instagram around the hashtag #salesconnes. The data was collected via Tubular Labs, then consolidated over the days (8–9 / 10–11 / 12–13) to track the ignition, spread and what remains, based on two consistent indicators: views and engagements.
The aim is not to judge the quality of the content or to give out good marks, but to understand how attention is generated on Instagram: which promises trigger the peak, which ones structure what follows, and where editorial content can be useful, both in the heat of the moment and afterwards.
À propos d’Upgrade Media : Upgrade Media est une agence créative, de conseils en stratégie, un centre de formation et de réflexion sur la transformation des médias.
◾️ Nous travaillons pour les médias et les entreprises communicantes, afin d’accélérer leurs transformations numériques, faire évoluer leurs organisations, leurs produits print et numériques, et aussi développer l’agilité des équipes.
◾️ Découvrez Upgrade Media et son Think Tank, à l’origine de l’événement Médias Pionniers, un rendez-vous incontournable pour explorer la transformation des médias par l’innovation, les échanges internationaux et les initiatives concrètes portées par les acteurs du changement.
◾️ Nous espérons que cet article et nos autres contenus vous inspireront !
Restez informé·e de toutes nos actualités en vous inscrivant à notre Newsletter par e-mail ou via Linkedin.
Merci pour votre lecture.
- Sermitsiaq, the publisher that turned AI into a competitive advantage
- Bondi Beach: 8 ways to handle information on social media
- Representation, relevance and community: how Spilnews is revolutionising news for young people
- Instagram and the #salesconnes story: how the media can seize back the spotlight when the content creators seem to take centre stage
- How explainers are redrawing the attention map (and what the the Reuters report doesn’t tell us)
