In an ironic twist of fate for 2009, Fox’s IGN Entertainment, a company known for its game reviews of products like Zombie Apocalypse acquired What They Play. The newest member of Fox Interactive is touted as the “family guide to video games” and offers reviews, warnings and suggested products. Under the umbrella company of What They Like, What They Play uses the “Entertainment Software Rating Board” (ESRB) to warn parents of games containing explicit lyrics, cartoon violence and drug references.

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Editor’s note: This story is part of a series we call Redux, where we’ll re-publish some of our best posts of 2009. As we look back at the year – and ahead to what next year holds – we think these are the stories that deserve a second glance. It’s not just a best-of list, it’s also a collection of posts that examine the fundamental issues that continue to shape the Web. We hope you enjoy reading them again and we look forward to bringing you more Web products and trends analysis in 2010. Happy holidays from Team ReadWriteWeb!

In an age when gross-out sites like goatse are just a click away, a number of services offer parents the information they need to find quality online entertainment. While past generations were raised on unfiltered television and video games, today’s parent take a more active role in the process of media consumption.

AOL’s PlaySavvy: PlaySavvy is another site that offers parents a chance to check out age-appropriate kids games. Similar to What They Play, this site lists the ESRB ratings next to games and information is categorized by topic and gaming system. Products for console favorites like Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii are often featured on the site. AOL also offers parents daily articles and a section to view the most popular games.

Parents’ Choice: Established in 1978, this site is run by the Parents’ Choice Foundation – a nonprofit organization that offers awards to the top children’s media and toys. Some of the award categories include websites, video games, DVDs, software, television programming and toys. This site definitely skews towards narrative-based educational materials. If your kid has a shorter attention span, you might want to visit PBS Kids instead.

Common Sense Media: Common Sense media is a nonprofit organizations dedicated to offering parents reviews and suggestions on appropriate content. The group produces movie, website, TV, game, book and music ratings as well as a number of educational tools for classroom use. The site can be personalized for kids between the ages of 2-17 years old and it’s available in English and Spanish. This site tends to weigh the benefits of mainstream media sites.

PBS KIDS Island: This site offers parents reading resources, videos and games in English and Spanish. While the majority of the content is best queued up by a parent or teacher, the videos are of particularly high quality and completely commercial free.

National Geographic for Kids: This site offers kid-friendly games, videos, stories and activities for nature lovers. The same photography that has made National Geographic a hit with grownups is likely to please kids. Not surprisingly, the video content is equally compelling. Discovery Kids offers a similar experience and is a great site for visual learners.

Totlol: Totlol is a parent-moderated version of YouTube. The site offers video options specifically designed for children and even offers “age optimized interfaces” to ensure that kids of different ages get the most appropriate content. In 2008, ReadWriteWeb covered Totlol’s beta launch. As of today the site charges a $3 per month subscription fee or $54 until your child grows up.

Photo Credit:Swaminathan

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Online video viewing reached another record in September, driven largely by TV season premieres, according to the latest report from comScore.

More than 168 million U.S. Internet users watched online video during the month. Nearly 26 billion videos were viewed in September, as Google sites accounted for more than 40 percent of videos viewed online by Americans.

Google sites continued to rank as the top U.S. video property in September with nearly 10.5 billion videos viewed. YouTube accounted for 99 percent of all videos viewed at Google properties.

Hulu landed in the second spot with 583 million (2.2%) followed by Fox Interactive Media with 547 million videos viewed (2.1%) and Viacom Digital with 513 million (2%).

More than 168 million viewers watched an average of 154 videos per viewer during the month of September. Google sites attracted more than 126 million unique viewers during the month (82.7 videos per viewer), followed by Fox Interactive Media with 58 million viewers (9.4 videos per viewer) and Yahoo sites with 57 million viewers (7.5 videos per viewer).

Tremor Media was the top video ad network with a potential reach of 73 million viewers, or 43.3 percent of the total viewing audience. YuMe Video Network ranked second with a potential reach of 66 million viewers (39.4 % penetration) followed by Broadband Enterprises (BBE) with 63 million viewers (37.5%).

Other highlights from September include:

•     The top video ad networks in terms of their actual delivered reach were: Tremor Media Video  Network (19.9 percent penetration of online video viewers), BBE (16.3 percent penetration) and BrightRoll Video Network (14.9 percent penetration).
•     84.8 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
•     The average online video viewer watched 9.8 hours of video.
•     125.5 million viewers watched nearly 10.3 billion videos on YouTube.com (82.4 videos per viewer).
•     45.6 million viewers watched 424 million videos on MySpace.com (9.3 videos per viewer).
•     The average Hulu viewer watched 15.1 videos, totaling 1 hour and 32 minutes of videos per viewer.
•     The duration of the average online video was 3.8 minutes.
   

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It seems that more people are watching video online these days. Maybe it’s the rise in unemployment where people are finding more ‘free time’ these days rather than having to be hassled with a job. Maybe it’s the folks at their desks trying to while away the time since there is no business being done? Maybe it’s the high quality of most video on the Internet? Maybe it’s the ‘job outsourcing” craze? Maybe I am being way too cynical?

Whatever it is, ClickZ reports that comScore’s Video Metrix service showed an Internet users watched 16.8 billion online videos in April of this year which is a 16% increase over March. Google itself increased 15% month over month for videos viewed on its properties led by YouTube. What is most striking is what Google is doing regarding market share of online video. It’s a show that is as impressive, if not more so, than their search engine dominance. Here’s the numbers

• Total Internet: 16.8 billion; 100 percent market share
• Google sites: 6.8 billion; 40.7 percent market share
• Fox Interactive Media: 513 million; 3.1 percent market share
• Hulu: 397 million; 2.4 percent market share
• Viacom: 315.2 million; 1.9 percent market share
• Microsoft sites: 288.3 million; 1.7 percent market share

If you are Microsoft you have got be getting tired of being on or near the bottom of lists that Google is on the top of. Here’s one stat, however, that really seemed a bit over the top but if you’re Google you gotta smile just a bit

In a month of record video viewing on Google, nearly 152 million U.S. Internet users watched an average 111 videos each.

Thank God for those super fast business class Internet connections at work, huh? What would you do at work all day if there wasn’t video?

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Americans viewed a record 16.8 billion videos online in April, a 16 percent increase over March, according to new data from comScore.

A surge in video viewing at YouTube during April contributed to the month’s significant gains.

Google sites were once again the most popular property with 6.8 billion videos viewed (40.7 percent online video market share), a 15 percent increase over March. YouTube accounted for more than 99 percent of all videos viewed at the property.

Fox Interactive Media landed in the second spot with 513 million videos (3.1 percent), followed by Hulu with 397 million (2.4 percent) and Yahoo sites with 355 million (2.1 percent).

Also making it into the top ten with less than 2 percent share were Viacom, Microsoft sites, Turner Network, CBS Interactive, Disney Online and AOL.

Nearly 152 million Internet users watched an average of 111 videos per viewer in April. Google sites hit an all-time high of 107.9 million video viewers during the month. Fox Interactive Media ranked second with 58.8 million viewers, followed by Yahoo sites (45.4 million) and Hulu (40.1 million).

Over three-quarters (78.6 percent) of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video. The average online video viewer watched 6.4 hours of content.

YouTube attracted 107.1 million viewers who watched 63.5 videos per user. MySpace captured 49 million viewers who watched 387 million videos (7.9 videos per viewer).

Hulu accounted for 2.4 percent of videos viewed, but 4.2 percent of all minutes spent watching online video. The length of the average online video was 3.5 minutes.