DowJones/VentureOne reports that U.S. video startups received $682M in venture funding last year. Already in the first quarter of 2007 video startups have raised over $200M alone. That’s almost $2M per day.

Todd Dagres of Spark Capital (investor in KickApps, Veoh, and Next New Networks) apparently said that the online video space could see more than $1B (with a “B”) this year.

Having a behemoth like Google lay down some big-time dollars for online video certainly legitimized the gold rush for web-based video, and the NBC/NewsCorp online video plans also gives credence to this distribution channel.

Without calling it a bubble (remember Excite@Home’s graceful exit?), creeping into the billion-dollar venture range is sure to make some people skittish. Shakeout reports have been on the Interweb for some time, and some believe that a correction will happen, but when?

U.S. Video Startups Raised $682M Last Year via NewTeeVee