• by Wayne Friedman , November 30, 2016

Since the beginning of the TV season, new TV/media competitors have increased their spending on traditional national TV networks.

Hulu, PlayStation Vue, Amazon Prime Instant Video, and others were the major spenders when it came to TV networks' advertising spending. A collective $260.6 million was spent by TV networks from September 20 through November 29, according to iSpot.tv; a year ago that media spend was $236.3 million.

Sony PlayStation Vue was at $32.8 million in national TV advertising spend from September 20 through November 29, followed by  Hulu, $26.4 million; Amazon Prime Instant Video, $15.5 million; and Netflix, $5.8 million.

Among traditional TV networks, NFL Network was the biggest spender at $32.2 million. Fox was at $10.1 million, followed by ABC at $10.0 million; CBS with $8.9 million and MLB Network at $6.8 million.

Looking at other diversified digital media platforms since the start of the TV season, Facebook was at $22.6 million and Google came in at $23.2 million.

Over the recent holiday spending period -- November 16 through November 29 -- Hulu was at $6.7 million, followed by NFL Network with $5.1 million; PlayStation Vue at $3.2 million; Amazon Prime Instant Video with $3.1 million; and ESPN at $1.6 million.

Facebook was at $9.4 million, and Google came in at $20.0 million.

Looking at pay TV providers, DirecTV was at $15.5 million, and $57.4 million since the start of the new TV season. Dish Network did not spend any money on national TV during the most recent two week period and  $11.8 million since the start of the TV season.

Comcast’s Xfinity service was at $13.8 million from November 16 through November 29, and $39.7 million from September 20 to November 29.