TV watching in the new millennium: insights from Europe

In the present paper we empirically investigate the economic reasons why people spend time watching television both for informative and leisure purposes. We consider individual characteristics and country-level features. Particular attention is devoted to the impact of education and economic status on the allocation of time to TV and new media. We use data from the European Social Survey (ESS) Round 5—2010, 2012 and 2014 and from other minor empirical sources.