When Illeana Douglas, long active in independent film, wanted to make a show about a Hollywood actress who becomes a cog in a blue-collar wheel, she turned to the Web and to an unusual ally, IKEA. She persuaded IKEA, the Swedish furniture maker, to be the sole sponsor of her Web video show, 'Easy to Assemble,' in which she plays an employee. It now has a devoted following online -- and a full-time production staff. At home late last month, getting ready for an awards festival where her show would be honored, Douglas was dressed in a yellow IKEA jumpsuit, mimicking her character. 'The brand is a co-worker in the story line,' she said, adding that IKEA does not actually make jumpsuits, so she made one herself. After a protracted drought, money is trickling back into the professional Web video industry. So-called branded entertainment deals like the one by IKEA are becoming more common, helping to nourish new programming. And venture capital firms are also paying new attention to the industry. My Damn Channel, which distributes 'Easy to Assemble,' will announce a $4.4 million infusion of financing Monday, joining companies like Blip.tv and Machinima in raising money this year. The promise of Web video has risen and fallen over the last few years. What makes the current round of interest more compelling is the realization in the industry that Web video will not supplant television viewing anytime soon, just complement it. That partly explains why the companies have stopped labeling themselves 'TV on the Internet.' The Web video industry flies under the radar, but together, the major players rack up hundreds of millions of video views each month. As people spend more time online, producers are betting that video viewing times will keep growing in tandem. Reaffirming its belief in made-for-the-Web programming, YouTube last month announced $5 million in grants for online producers. The grants will seed new content for YouTube, a unit of Google, which has largely failed to persuade big television networks and studios to place TV episodes and films on the site. Encouraging more professional Web video is another way for YouTube to expand its inventory for advertisers. Despite the evidence that viewers are eager to watch more on the Web, the recession was an ugly reality check for purveyors of such programming, and many startups were closed. But Web video companies say that advertisers are starting to make million-dollar commitments -- hardly a threat to established television networks, but a big improvement for sites that started out making $5,000 at a time. 