These are definitely not the same. How many people are actually paying full attention to a 3 hour podcast?

The majority will be listening to it while on their commute, or at the gym, or doing chores around the house. My wife (a civil engineer) has a podcast going in the background even while working. I asked her how she actually manages to pay attention to it and she says that it's mostly for the background noise.

> Movies are getting longer at the cinema too -- what used to be 85 minutes is now 150 minutes.

Because these movies are not made for the cinema anymore, but for streaming platforms, where people can consume in the same way they consume their podcasts.

▲

crazygringo 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

When I do chores or shower or commute, I'm paying attention. It's not background noise. The people are saying interesting things about interesting subjects. If I wanted background noise I'd put on music.

Just because one person uses a podcast as background noise, doesn't mean everybody else is.

	▲	loloquwowndueo 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		> If I wanted background noise I'd put on music. My dude you’re using music wrong. Noise generators do exist - you can even pick a color for your noise!

▲

mystifyingpoi 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

> where people can consume in the same way they consume their podcasts

It even has a name - "second-monitoring".