The geography of luxurious consumption is altering, and the media companies serving prosperous shoppers are following it.
Center East-headquartered ITP Media Group has acquired Singapore-based Coronary heart Media Group, bringing collectively two independently constructed media companies with established positions throughout the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Asia-Pacific.
The deal expands ITP’s bodily presence into Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong whereas including a portfolio of luxurious and way of life titles together with LUXUO, Esquire, Grazia, ELLE, ELLE Males, Males’s Folio, Yacht Model, WOW (World of Watches) and NOBLE.
The mixed group will function throughout markets representing greater than two billion folks, creating a bigger platform for reaching prosperous shoppers from the Center East and India by to Southeast Asia and Better China.
For ITP, the acquisition represents greater than geographic growth. It’s a guess on the growing motion of wealth, manufacturers and shoppers between two of the world’s most essential luxury-growth areas.
Following the Motion of International Wealth
The business rationale is intently tied to the altering geography of personal wealth. Southeast Asia’s media and leisure business is rising at roughly 6 per cent yearly, with some regional markets increasing by as a lot as 8.4 per cent, in accordance with figures cited from PwC’s International Leisure & Media Outlook.
On the similar time, Asia’s focus of personal capital continues to deepen. Hong Kong has overtaken Switzerland because the world’s main centre for cross-border wealth, in accordance with the BCG 2026 International Wealth Report cited within the announcement. Hong Kong and Singapore collectively at the moment are house to greater than 4,000 single-family places of work — 4 instances the quantity recorded 5 years earlier.
Malaysia represents one other potential progress market. Knight Frank’s The Wealth Report 2026, as referenced by the group, anticipates the nation’s ultra-high-net-worth inhabitants growing by 20 per cent over the following 5 years.
For luxurious manufacturers, these modifications make regional boundaries more and more much less related. The identical high-net-worth client might spend time between Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai and different international wealth centres whereas anticipating entry to the identical worldwide manufacturers, experiences and cultural conversations. Media more and more wants to maneuver with them.
Constructing a Media Hall Between Asia and the GCC
That cross-border motion sits on the centre of ITP’s technique. The acquisition offers the group a bodily presence in 10 nations and will increase its portfolio to roughly 90 media manufacturers. ITP says its platforms at present attain greater than 200 million folks every month throughout digital, social, video, audio, print and live-event channels.
Chief Govt Officer Ali Akawi describes the longer-term goal as constructing a media ecosystem with considerably larger worldwide scale.
“Bringing the 2 collectively creates a media hall between two of the fastest-growing markets on earth,” Akawi stated, pointing to the chance to attach campaigns and content material between Dubai, Singapore and wider worldwide markets.
The proposition is particularly related for luxurious companies searching for regional attain with out coping with separate media companions throughout each particular person market. By way of the mixed portfolio, ITP plans to supply promoting, sponsorship, occasions and model activations able to reaching high-net-worth audiences throughout a number of nations by a single community.
The potential extends past luxurious. ITP has recognized hospitality, development, commerce, sport and different sectors as areas the place the cross-regional mannequin may ultimately be expanded.
Coronary heart Media Group’s Asian Portfolio Enters Its Subsequent Chapter
Coronary heart Media Group has spent greater than twenty years growing an viewers round luxurious, style, watches, yachting and way of life throughout Asia-Pacific. Founder Olivier Burlot will be part of the ITP Media Group board and can now act as ITP Vice President. In his capability, Burlot will work on increasing the group’s core manufacturers to new markets and can proceed strategic licensing path as a part of a phased fairness transition.
He described the deal as a possibility to supply Coronary heart Media Group’s present manufacturers with larger scale and funding whereas connecting them with the Center East, one of many world’s most intently watched luxurious markets.
“Once we constructed Coronary heart Media, the ambition was at all times to present Asia’s luxurious and way of life audiences media actually worthy of them,” he stated. “Becoming a member of ITP is the pure subsequent chapter — it takes all the pieces we have now created and offers it scale, funding and a bridge into one of many world’s fastest-growing luxurious markets.”
Wilson Lim will stay in management as Managing Director of ITP Media Singapore and Malaysia, working with the present operational, gross sales and editorial groups throughout each markets.
The combination is predicted to happen in phases, with ITP stating that the method is meant to protect the person editorial identities, viewers relationships and consumer connections established by Coronary heart Media Group’s titles. In luxurious publishing, scale can increase distribution and business alternative, however credibility continues to rely closely on native experience and editorial authority.
Extra Than Publishing
ITP’s growth additionally displays a broader transformation throughout the media business. Based in 1987 as a five-person enterprise constructed round a single business-to-business publication, the group has developed right into a multi-channel firm spanning publishing, influencer advertising, gaming, sport, dwell leisure and occasions.
The corporate operates divisions together with ITP Dwell, ITP Gaming and ITP Sport. Its present portfolio contains regional and worldwide manufacturers comparable to Arabian Enterprise, Harper’s Bazaar, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Grazia, Dazed, Time Out and WatchPro in varied Center Jap markets.
The acquisition follows a just lately introduced 10-year settlement to function Time Out Singapore and Time Out Hong Kong, additional reinforcing the group’s curiosity in Asian growth.
Funding following the Coronary heart Media Group transaction is predicted to increase into editorial, digital, design and dwell occasions, alongside new cross-border media merchandise, gaming tournaments, sporting experiences and model activations.
Luxurious Media Turns into More and more Borderless
The bigger significance of the acquisition lies in what it says concerning the luxurious client. For many years, media markets have been largely organised geographically: Asian publications served Asian readers, whereas Center Jap titles targeting the Gulf. Wealth as we speak is significantly extra cellular.
Prosperous shoppers journey, make investments, research, store and preserve properties throughout a number of jurisdictions. Luxurious homes more and more organise their methods round international consumer relationships relatively than remoted nationwide markets.
Media firms serving these audiences are starting to adapt accordingly. For Coronary heart Media Group, becoming a member of ITP provides entry to larger worldwide infrastructure and funding. For ITP, the acquisition gives a longtime foothold in three Asian markets and an present community of luxurious manufacturers with native editorial authority.
Extra importantly, it creates a bridge between areas which are changing into more and more central to the way forward for international luxurious. The following battle for prosperous audiences might due to this fact be much less about dominating one particular person market than understanding how wealth, tradition and affect transfer between them.
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