WebProNews

In terms of U.S. market share among video-sharing sites, Veoh is in sixth place, and in June, it received $26 million in funding.  Just ten days ago, Metacafe, the eighth place site, collected $30 million.  And now Dailymotion, which is in tenth, got $34 million.  Um . . . right.

These developments sort of make sense - after all, YouTube doesn’t need a dime in order to maintain its dominance, while some major changes are needed for any of these sites to get noticed.  Still, one has to wonder if investors’ tens of millions of dollars couldn’t be put to better use elsewhere.

Oh, well - it’s not my money.  And as Peter Sayer of the IDG News Service pointed out, Dailymotion is doing reasonably well in some regions.  “DailyMotion still reaches more viewers in its native France than does YouTube . . . but its lead is narrowing,” he wrote.  “Both companies attracted more viewers overall, to the detriment of smaller players in the market.”

It’s also refreshing to see that Fred Destin, a board member at Dailymotion, has some perspective on the whole situation.  Instead of a typical we-are-the-best-at-everything comment, he states, “The race is on as to who can provide the most credible alternative or threat to YouTube: the new pirates at Veoh with the Eisner and Freston connections, the Metacafe guys, or us.  Today we are in the lead, but this is a marathon and not a sprint.”

$34 million should buy Dailymotion some damn good running shoes.  Hat tip to (and initial stats from) VentureBeat’s Eric Eldon.