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Millennials' TV Habits Contrast Sharply Based on Where They Are in Life A new Nielsen report shows the differences between dependents, independents and those starting a family.

By Lindsay Friedman

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

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You may think social-media-obsessed millennials aren't plunking down to watch television,

But in fact, according to Nielsen's latest Total Audience Report, on average, people ages 18 to 34 spent two hours and 45 minutes watching live TV each day and one hour, 23 minutes with TV-connected devices. That's a total of four hours, eight minutes in front of the small screen.

Related: Millennials 'Are Great Problems to Have'

Still, compared to older generations, millennials spent the least amount of time with traditional methods of media consumption, such as cable or satellite.

However, as researchers broke down the group into different categories -- dependent, independent and starting a family -- the numbers changed a bit.

For example, for those starting a family, they were more likely to have cable or satellite. Dependents spent less time watching TV and more time outside and independents watched more from streaming services and spent the least amount of time in the great outdoors. The group also had more on-the-go devices.

Related: 5 Ways Millennials Are Like No Generation Before Them

Overall, millennials are going to find a way to consume media and watch TV no matter what stage they are in life. But is that really surprising? Besides, what millennial is going to pay for cable when they could watch almost anything online whenever they want for less or free?

See the full report at Variety.

Lindsay Friedman

Staff writer. Frequently covers franchise news and food trends.

Lindsay Friedman is a staff writer at Entrepreneur.com.

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