French video site Dailymotion, which had already raised $43.5 million since 2006, has now has to find another €15 million ($22.1 million), as the economics of playing second fiddle to overseas vid portals continue to look challenging.

Twelve months ago, then CEO Mark Zaleski told me the site didn’t need further funds, but the last year has seen the board swap Zaleski for Cedric Tournay, who promptly shaved 20 percent of Dailymotion’s costs, partly through layoffs.

Dailymotion had taken $9.5 million in setup money from Atlas Venture and Partech International in 2006 plus a further $34 million from Advent Venture Partners and AGF Private Equity a year later. Tournay tells Capital.fr the new money, which comes from original investors and one new backer, “strengthens our balance sheet and allows us to fund our growth”.

He forecasts 50 percent better revenue this year and next, and says the company is profitable at the operating level. But bandwidth costs are still rising faster than turnover. Sales are now outstripping outgoings on bandwidth, which makes up 25 percent of costs, Tournay said.

“At the moment, we are poor at monetising our audience,” Tournay says. “Dailymotion started its business strategy there only two years ago. The consequence: less than 10 percent of our videos include advertising.”

The site, claims 60 million monthly uniques, is a firm fixture in its native France but has been trying to make a name for itself in overseas markets, too. It has tried to set itself apart from the user-generated content sites with a mix of professional content like independent film - but neither is it the only site trying to do that.