It amounts to a hill of beans and then some. U.S.-based video startups gathered $682.17 million in venture capital funding in 2006, according to statistics gathered by Dow Jones/VentureOne and emailed to NewTeeVee. The amount was spread across both infrastructure and consumer plays, 74 companies in total. It’s up 95 percent from the $350.05 million that 54 video-related startups raised in 2005.

And already, in the first quarter of 2007, some 19 video software and services companies have raised $210.7 million. Put another way, American video startups raised $1.96 million per day over the past 15 months. And there’s been one exit to write home about: $1.7 billion for YouTube.

The Financial Times spoke with Todd Dagres of Spark Capital, investor in KickApps, Veoh, and Next New Networks, among others, about the recent funding glut. He apparently told them he expected the sector to merit more than $1 billion in venture capital.

Like other financiers and entrepreneurs caught up in this wave, Mr Dagres predicted an eventual round of failures that would see most investors lose money. With many of the start-ups in their early stages and drawing in money, though, the shake-out is unlikely to come this year, he added.

Katie wrote today about the immense amounts of money funding flowing to Chinese online video startups — $120 million since 2004 — with VCs claiming they are starting to be more choosy. Video is clearly hot, though exits are not.

Despite the uncertainty of success, we have little reason to believe that this year’s bar on the graph won’t be even bigger. Don’t call it a B****E!