A new report by Professional Evaluation and Research (PEAR) analysed earned media coverage, social media activity and Google search trends linked to the 2025 matric results, focusing on the country’s top-performing IEB schools during the results window in January. It offers fresh insight into how visibility, sentiment and credibility are shaped during South Africa’s annual IEB matric results period, highlighting the distinct roles of earned media, social amplification and public search behaviour.
The findings indicate that schools’ reputations are shaped within a short results-driven window, largely through earned media coverage rather than sustained attention.
According to the analysis, while social media generates the highest volume of conversation during the matric results cycle, earned media delivers a disproportionate share of reach, credibility and impact. Broadcast and high-reach online publications accounted for the majority of meaningful visibility, while social platforms primarily served as secondary amplifiers rather than narrative drivers.
‘Results periods like matric announcements create sharp reputation windows,’ said Dr Jaco Pienaar, Chief Communications Officer ‘What the data shows very clearly is that volume alone does not equal impact; credibility, reach and tone are largely determined by how organisations show up in earned media during those peak moments.’
The report also found that sentiment across coverage of top-performing schools remained overwhelmingly positive to neutral, with negative commentary limited and largely confined to isolated social media discussions rather than sustained reputational issues. This suggests that results-led, factual reporting dominates the narrative when communications are focused and well managed.
In addition to media coverage, the analysis tracked public search interest during the results period, showing sharp spikes in mid-January aligned with the release of matric results. Queries about school names, fees and enrolment information increased significantly, underscoring the link between media visibility and stakeholder intent among prospective parents and pupils.
The report combines an overall view of the matric results media landscape with school-level analysis, examining visibility drivers, sentiment dynamics and amplification patterns. While schools experienced different mixes of PR- and social-led attention, the overall findings reinforce the importance of measurement in understanding what truly drives reputational impact during high-stakes education moments.
Methodology
The analysis covers the period 1 to 25 January 2026 and includes earned media across broadcast, online and print, social media activity on X (formerly Twitter), and Google Trends data. Metrics assessed include volume, reach, advertising value equivalency (AVE), sentiment and search behaviour.
PEAR
www.pear.africa
