With ubiquitous internet access and healthy government funding, Singapore’s media market has experienced steady growth over the years. It employs more than 23,000 industry professionals and reached $3.73 billion in 2023 — one third of which was generated by newspapers and magazines.
Still, like most other media segments, the city-state moves toward a digital-first approach. Of its 5.9 million population, 84 percent source their news from online outlets and through social media.
Currently, state-owned Mediacorp and government-funded SPH Media run a duopoly on mainstream channels in competition with global competitors, like BBC and CNN. Keep reading to find out more about the major players of Singapore’s media landscape.
Top Media Companies in Singapore
- Mediacorp
- SPH Media
- Mothership
- Asia One
- The Independent Singapore
Top Media Companies in Singapore
State-owned, public media conglomerate Mediacorp is Singapore’s largest content creator that operates broadcast television and radio stations as well as online news. Founded in 1936, the outlet reaches 98 percent of Singaporeans, with 10 million unique visitors to its online platforms and 81 million households tuning in across Asia, the Middle East and Australia.
SPH Media is a non-profit media organization that publishes content across newspapers, magazines, books, radio and online platforms in four different languages. Its portfolio consists of 40 different brands, including Singapore’s newspaper of record the Strait Times, that collectively reach about 3.1 million people per week. Of its 4,000-person workforce, about 1,000 of them are journalists and correspondents reporting abroad from 14 different bureaus. Over the next five years, SPH Media is set to receive $180 million annually from Singapore's Ministry of Communications and Information toward the outlet’s ongoing digital transformation.
Digital-native Mothership is a youth-centric, alternative news platform known for converting viral social media posts into short-form articles and videos. Founded in 2013, the company has already surpassed long-standing mainstream competitors as the most used online source. Mothership garners 40 million monthly page views from over 6 million unique users, one third of which are under the age of 44 and 75 percent of which access the site on their phone.
Operating as a joint venture between mainboard-listed companies mm2 Asia and SPH Media, AsiaOne launched in 1995 as Singapore’s first pure-play digital platform. The WAN IFRA-awarded publisher operates as an aggregate site for breaking news, lifestyle and entertainment, and hosts one of the largest online readerships in the city-state, with more than 5 million monthly visits.
Owned and operated by journalists, the Independent Singapore is a digital platform that covers news, politics and current affairs in a “responsible but robust” way. Founded in 2013, the online publication aims to provide level-headed and balanced coverage to Singapore.
Snap is a global company with a reputation that largely centers around its Snapchat app, which allows millions of users to send and receive messages, videos and photos. Snap also offers augmented reality, advertising and creator monetization solutions. The company has a presence in Singapore, where it hires professionals for teams such as engineering and sales.
Getty Images operates one of the largest media repositories, where users can access millions of royalty-free images, videos and music. The platform contains content for all projects, ranging from stock to current sports photography and, most recently, AI-generated visuals. Through Getty Images’ NVIDIA-powered genAI platform, users can generate commercially safe and legally protected images.
Key Media is a multinational company that operates various digital news and content platforms across multiple verticals. Its content is tailored to B2B audiences and covers topics like insurance, mortgage and HR news. Key Media is headquartered in Australia but operates offices in Singapore and elsewhere to maintain its multiple sites.
INMAGINE is the parent company of several popular media repositories and content creation platforms. One of its sites, 123RF, hosts millions of royalty-free images and AI content. Meanwhile, its Pixlr platform provides users with advanced photo manipulation tools.
MotionElements supplies stock footage, music and templates for content creators. Its site operates on a membership model and provides users with unlimited downloads and permanent usage rights for personal or commercial use. MotionElements also hosts high-quality videos, sound effects and video editing presets for Adobe After Effects and other platforms.
