The geography of luxury consumption is changing, and the media businesses serving affluent consumers are following it.
Middle East-headquartered ITP Media Group has acquired Singapore-based Heart Media Group, bringing together two independently built media businesses with established positions across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Asia-Pacific.
The deal expands ITP’s physical presence into Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong while adding a portfolio of luxury and lifestyle titles including LUXUO, Esquire, Grazia, ELLE, ELLE Men, Men’s Folio, Yacht Style, WOW (World of Watches) and NOBLE.
The combined group will operate across markets representing more than two billion people, creating a larger platform for reaching affluent consumers from the Middle East and India through to Southeast Asia and Greater China.
For ITP, the acquisition represents more than geographic expansion. It is a bet on the increasing movement of wealth, brands and consumers between two of the world’s most important luxury-growth regions.
Following the Movement of Global Wealth
The commercial rationale is closely tied to the changing geography of private wealth. Southeast Asia’s media and entertainment industry is growing at approximately 6 per cent annually, with some regional markets expanding by as much as 8.4 per cent, according to figures cited from PwC’s Global Entertainment & Media Outlook.
At the same time, Asia’s concentration of private capital continues to deepen. Hong Kong has overtaken Switzerland as the world’s leading centre for cross-border wealth, according to the BCG 2026 Global Wealth Report cited in the announcement. Hong Kong and Singapore together are now home to more than 4,000 single-family offices — four times the number recorded five years earlier.
Malaysia represents another potential growth market. Knight Frank’s The Wealth Report 2026, as referenced by the group, anticipates the country’s ultra-high-net-worth population increasing by 20 per cent over the next five years.
For luxury brands, these changes make regional boundaries increasingly less relevant. The same high-net-worth consumer may spend time between Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai and other global wealth centres while expecting access to the same international brands, experiences and cultural conversations. Media increasingly needs to move with them.
Building a Media Corridor Between Asia and the GCC
That cross-border movement sits at the centre of ITP’s strategy. The acquisition gives the group a physical presence in 10 countries and increases its portfolio to approximately 90 media brands. ITP says its platforms currently reach more than 200 million people each month across digital, social, video, audio, print and live-event channels.
Chief Executive Officer Ali Akawi describes the longer-term objective as building a media ecosystem with substantially greater international scale.
“Bringing the two together creates a media corridor between two of the fastest-growing markets on earth,” Akawi said, pointing to the opportunity to connect campaigns and content between Dubai, Singapore and wider international markets.
The proposition is especially relevant for luxury businesses seeking regional reach without dealing with separate media partners across every individual market. Through the combined portfolio, ITP plans to offer advertising, sponsorship, events and brand activations capable of reaching high-net-worth audiences across multiple countries through a single network.
The potential extends beyond luxury. ITP has identified hospitality, construction, trade, sport and other sectors as areas where the cross-regional model could eventually be expanded.
Heart Media Group’s Asian Portfolio Enters Its Next Chapter
Heart Media Group has spent more than two decades developing an audience around luxury, fashion, watches, yachting and lifestyle across Asia-Pacific. Founder Olivier Burlot will join the ITP Media Group board and will now act as ITP Vice President. In his capacity, Burlot will work on expanding the group’s core brands to new markets and will continue strategic licensing direction as part of a phased equity transition.
He described the deal as an opportunity to provide Heart Media Group’s existing brands with greater scale and investment while connecting them with the Middle East, one of the world’s most closely watched luxury markets.
“When we built Heart Media, the ambition was always to give Asia’s luxury and lifestyle audiences media truly worthy of them,” he said. “Joining ITP is the natural next chapter — it takes everything we have created and gives it scale, investment and a bridge into one of the world’s fastest-growing luxury markets.”
Wilson Lim will remain in leadership as Managing Director of ITP Media Singapore and Malaysia, working with the existing operational, sales and editorial teams across both markets.
The integration is expected to take place in phases, with ITP stating that the approach is intended to preserve the individual editorial identities, audience relationships and client connections established by Heart Media Group’s titles. In luxury publishing, scale can expand distribution and commercial opportunity, but credibility continues to depend heavily on local expertise and editorial authority.
More Than Publishing
ITP’s expansion also reflects a broader transformation across the media industry. Founded in 1987 as a five-person business built around a single business-to-business publication, the group has developed into a multi-channel company spanning publishing, influencer marketing, gaming, sport, live entertainment and events.
The company operates divisions including ITP Live, ITP Gaming and ITP Sport. Its existing portfolio includes regional and international brands such as Arabian Business, Harper’s Bazaar, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Grazia, Dazed, Time Out and WatchPro in various Middle Eastern markets.
The acquisition follows a recently announced 10-year agreement to operate Time Out Singapore and Time Out Hong Kong, further reinforcing the group’s interest in Asian expansion.
Investment following the Heart Media Group transaction is expected to extend into editorial, digital, design and live events, alongside new cross-border media products, gaming tournaments, sporting experiences and brand activations.
Luxury Media Becomes Increasingly Borderless
The larger significance of the acquisition lies in what it says about the luxury consumer. For decades, media markets were largely organised geographically: Asian publications served Asian readers, while Middle Eastern titles concentrated on the Gulf. Wealth today is considerably more mobile.
Affluent consumers travel, invest, study, shop and maintain homes across multiple jurisdictions. Luxury houses increasingly organise their strategies around global client relationships rather than isolated national markets.
Media companies serving those audiences are beginning to adapt accordingly. For Heart Media Group, joining ITP offers access to greater international infrastructure and investment. For ITP, the acquisition provides an established foothold in three Asian markets and an existing network of luxury brands with local editorial authority.
More importantly, it creates a bridge between regions that are becoming increasingly central to the future of global luxury. The next battle for affluent audiences may therefore be less about dominating one individual market than understanding how wealth, culture and influence move between them.
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