MTV Networks has acquired Social Express, the social gaming community. In an area that’s heating up fast, MTV parent Viacom has found a new way of spilling over to the web. The days of television dominance may have started to wane in the 90s, but MTV is still determined to recapture its youth through online portals. Much of this will be linked back to its television efforts, as this is still a primary way it reaches its consumers.

Now that Facebook and hi5 have shown the profit-worthy benefits of social gaming, everyone wants a piece of the pie. For MTV Networks that means a vested interest in Social Express, a startup founded by two former Zynga employees. The benefits of a social gaming platform is that it reaches users on multiple and overlapping levels; social mobile, social online, gaming mobile, online gaming, game consoles, etc. MSNBC notes an important aspect of MTV’s decision to go with Social Express:

It’s just as well that Viacom is going for a small player. The media giant is apparently more interested in finding a capable developer to milk its cable properties for sticky online game fodder than overpaying for hot existing franchises. Terms of the deal weren’t made public, though this is obviously a small deal compared to the $400 million that EA forked over for Playfish.

As far as monetization goes, MTV Networks has a growing ad network it can lean on. Bulking up with a recent deal with Warner Music, the MTV’s ad network could be approached across several mediums in order to grease things up. It’s unlikely to greatly aid the music industry’s own monetization methods in the immediate future, but it would be an interesting experiment to spur innovation.

Despite the growing competition, current industry leaders such as Facebook are quick to seek expansion in the social gaming industry. A recent deal with Money Online (MOL) will give Facebook a stake in the Asian social gaming market, which already has more advanced currency and social integration than the US market.

Offerpal is also looking towards expansion, with plans to launch its social rewards system on Yahoo’s gaming platform. Such partnerships are dually beneficial, this one in particular, with Yahoo seeking socially integrated ways to regain its former portal regulars. On the mobile side, Open Feint has launched its social gaming platform for Android.