Newscorp further extended its online presence by gobbling up gaming centric, IGN. IGN, originally started as a game enthusiast site, spread its wings further as the years went on delving into gadgets, car reviews, and more. IGN’s target demographic, 18 – 35 males, is certainly one of the most sought after by advertisers; hence Dave Chappelle earning a reported $50 million plus from Comedy Central. This acquisition arrives just after News Corp. picked up Intermix Media, the owner of the music centric site Myspace.com, for a reported $580 million. IGN had recently filed to go public, but felt like the acquisition was an appropriate fit.

IGN draws in over 28 million month visitors to its sites, which include: GameSpy, GameSpy Arena, FilePlanet, TeamXbox, 3D Gamers, Direct2Drive, and GameStats.com. They also own other sites like FilmForce, Rotten Tomatoes, and Askmen.com.

News Corp. is one of few media companies, and ultimately delivers a large percentage of our media intake. If you can, diversify while you can, and support the smaller guys, but then again they’ll probably get bought out by some behemoth.