South Africa’s Four Major Marathons Compete for the Most Media Coverage
South Africa's major marathon events continue to generate significant media attention and audience engagement across traditional and digital platforms.
This analysis, compiled by Gerom Media, compares the media performance of the Soweto Marathon '25, Cape Town Marathon '26, Two Oceans Marathon '26 and Comrades Marathon '26 across a range of key visibility and impact metrics.
Total Articles (All Records)
Comrades Marathon '26: 1164 articles
Two Oceans Marathon '26: 638 articles
Cape Town Marathon '26: 335 articles
Soweto Marathon '25: 210 articles
The Comrades Marathon '26 dominated overall media coverage, generating almost twice as many articles as the Two Oceans Marathon '26 and substantially outperforming the other major marathon events.
Unique Articles
Comrades Marathon '26: 887 unique articles
Two Oceans Marathon '26: 419 unique articles
Cape Town Marathon '26: 206 unique articles
Soweto Marathon '25: 161 unique articles
After removing duplicate coverage, the Comrades Marathon '26 remained the clear leader, producing the broadest range of original editorial content across the monitoring period.
Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE)
Comrades Marathon '26: R36.2 million
Two Oceans Marathon '26: R13.1 million
Soweto Marathon '25: R7.2 million
Cape Town Marathon '26: R5.8 million
The Comrades Marathon '26 generated the highest commercial media value, delivering an AVE almost three times greater than the Two Oceans Marathon '26.
Total Media Size of All Articles:
1st: Comrades Marathon '26
2nd: Two Oceans Marathon '26
3rd: Cape Town Marathon '26
4th: Soweto Marathon '25
The Comrades Marathon '26 generated the largest combined editorial footprint, followed by the Two Oceans Marathon '26, reflecting the greater volume and depth of media coverage achieved by both events.
Sentiment Analysis
Soweto Marathon '25: 97.14% neutral
Two Oceans Marathon '26: 94.83% neutral
Comrades Marathon '26: 94.50% neutral
Cape Town Marathon '26: 94.03% neutral
All four marathons received overwhelmingly neutral media coverage, reflecting balanced and factual reporting. None of the events recorded any meaningful level of negative sentiment during the monitoring period.
According to Gerrit Davids, MD of Gerom Media, “The findings show that the Comrades Marathon '26 led the field across most media performance indicators, while the other events also generated substantial coverage and audience reach. Together, the results highlight the strong media appeal and growing profile of South Africa's premier road running events.”
"The findings demonstrate that South Africa's leading marathon events deliver substantial media exposure, audience reach and commercial value, providing rights holders with credible data to strengthen their sponsorship propositions and commercial partnerships. For sponsors, the results confirm that these events offer powerful platforms to achieve brand visibility, engage large audiences and generate measurable returns on investment through earned media coverage,” said Davids.
Ends/
For enquiries, contact Gerrit Davids
MD, Gerom Media
Email: info@sportsbusiness.co.za
Mobile: +27 82 496 1657