Hero Media & Entertainment, the Glasgow based media business which owns Daily Business, has acquired KD Media, a live events business behind some of Scotland’s most high profile industry awards and conference programmes.
KD Media was founded by Kirsten Speirs in 2003 and its portfolio includes the Scottish Legal Awards, Scottish Home Awards, Scottish Property Awards, Scottish Whisky Awards, Scottish Gin Awards and the In Whisky annual conference.
Each is widely recognised for celebrating excellence and convening influential audiences across Scotland’s legal, property, hospitality and wider business sectors.
The acquisition significantly strengthens Hero Media & Entertainment’s strategy to build a fully integrated media and events platform.
It follows a series of recent acquisitions by the company, including Scottish Legal News, Scottish Housing News, Scottish Construction Now, Scottish Financial News, Irish Legal News, Daily Business and the Scottish Construction Summit event.
By combining these established news brands with KD Media’s market-leading events, Hero Media will offer a unique, multi-channel platform that connects audiences through trusted journalism and high-quality in-person experiences.
Mark Hollinshead, CEO of Hero Media & Entertainment, said: “The acquisition of KD Media is transformational for our business.
“We have assembled a portfolio of leading news brands across Scotland, and with the addition of KD Media’s outstanding events, we can now bring those audiences together in powerful new ways. Our vision is to create a modern media business where content and live experiences work hand in hand to inform, connect and celebrate our industries.
“I’m delighted to welcome Kirsten and her team of world class event professionals into the Hero Media & Entertainment fold.”
Ms Speirs, managing director, who established KD Media in 2003, added: “KD Media has always been about bringing people together to recognise achievement and build relationships. Joining Hero Media & Entertainment gives us the scale and support to grow our events further, while benefiting from the reach and influence of its news platforms.”
As part of the transaction, Kirsten Speirs will remain with the business as MD of Hero Media Events and take a leading role in shaping Hero Media & Entertainment’s event development strategy, ensuring continued growth and innovation across its expanding portfolio of live experiences.
Under the new ownership, KD Media will continue to deliver its established awards programmes while exploring opportunities to expand into new sectors and formats. The combined group will focus on year-round audience engagement, enhanced commercial partnerships and the development of new event concepts aligned with its growing media portfolio.
Hero Media & Entertainment is part of Hero Brands, a popular culture platform, founded on the belief that the future belongs to brands powered by community, culture, and creators.
Hero Brands’ portfolio encompasses a range of brands deeply embedded in various cultural niches, represented at more than 190 locations worldwide, with more than 40 high-profile brand and creator partnerships and in excess of 800m talent partner reach of combined followers.
Its mission is to turn early-stage ventures into durable, high-performing businesses through a proven value enhancement playbook, operating across four verticals and one shared platform:
It is executing a transformational buy-and-build model of digital and legacy media across online news, video/TV, live events and audio. It works with the likes of music and style icon Stefflon Don, the world’s biggest TikToker, Khaby Lame, and world-renowned football freestyler, Ben Nuttall.
The group’s lifestyle offering comprises health and wellness studio platforms and concepts like blow-dry brand Duck & Dry.
Food & Beverage includes the kebab category re-defining GDK (German Doner Kebab), the pioneering hot chicken brand SIDES in collaboration with Europe’s largest YouTube collective, The Sidemen, and PG Fast Food, the QSR brand redefining the fast-food experience, leaning heavily into nostalgia with a ‘naughty-but-nice’ menu, while prioritizing a modern, community-centric model in collaboration with musician and entrepreneur Professor Green.