Nice Dow Jones bit on us by Ty McMahan

While most online video sites are betting on a three-minute sweet spot for the best user engagement, maniaTV Network Inc. is using a strategy that is closer to traditional television content, which has earned it significant site traffic and a new $9.5 million round of funding.

The company took $5.5 million in Series C equity financing led by DAG Ventures, with participation from previous investors Benchmark Capital, Centennial Ventures and Intel Capital. The additional $4 million came from debt and credit commitments from Comerica Bank.

"We were able to get the full round with little dilution," Chief Executive Peter Hoskins said. "It was a very cost-efficient way to get capital."

Hoskins said the funding will be used as working capital to continue the site's programming development.

ManiaTV is most widely known for Web television shows "Dave Navarro's Spread Entertainment" and "Tom Green Live." The company produces, sells and distributes made-for-Internet programming targeting 18-to-34-year-olds under a model of "branded entertainment." Most shows are presented with an advertising sponsor. The company also serves banner and pre-roll ads.

Hoskins said maniaTV was ranked seventh in traffic in the Web video category in January and attracted more than 85 million visits to its site in 2007, up from about 34 million in 2006. He said revenue tripled in 2007 and the company has already seen nearly as much revenue this year as it saw all of last year. He declined to provide specific revenue figures or a valuation.

Hoskins took over in July and made the decision to discontinue user-generated content to focus on professionally produced, high-quality programming. ManiaTV has since moved its headquarters from Denver to a 13,000-square-foot production studio in Los Angeles, added veteran Hollywood talent to its staff, signed co-production partnerships with big Hollywood names and inked distribution deals with major portals and audience aggregators.

Hoskins attributed some of the success to the site's ability to keep users engaged. He said the average viewing time is about 20 minutes. The company's content strategy is to create intermediate-form productions of about 30 minutes that consist of several three-to-four-minute segments.