Latest news with #GreatMooseMigration
The Guardian
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Sweden's Great Moose Migration live stream ends after 478 hours' viewing
For thousands of years, moose have crossed rivers, navigated thawing forests and quietly followed ancient trails toward their summer pastures in northern Sweden. A 24-hour live stream gave millions of viewers front-row seats to watch every unhurried step of the journey. But on Sunday night, the seventh season of Den stora älgvandringen (The Great Moose Migration, also translated as The Great Elk Trek) ended, after nearly three weeks of uninterrupted footage streamed via SVT Play, the platform of Sweden's national broadcaster. Since its debut in 2019, the series has grown from a niche public broadcasting experiment into a cultural phenomenon, attracting close to 9 million viewers in 2024. 'We are very satisfied,' said Johan Erhag, SVT's project manager for the series. He confirmed the team has captured 478 hours of footage, with 26 remote cameras, seven night-vision ones and a drone streaming uninterrupted footage since its launch on 15 April. The last showing of the season concluded at 10pm local time on Sunday, with cameras capturing 70 moose (also known as European elk) making the spring crossing through Sweden's Ångerman River – about 180 miles north of Stockholm. The Great Moose Migration is part of a growing fascination with 'slow TV' – a genre that took off in 2009 when Norway's NRK aired a real-time, seven-hour train ride from Bergen to Oslo. The concept has since found cult status across Europe, with broadcasts featuring 12-hour knitting marathons, a 134-hour sea voyage, and even a crackling fireplace stream that topped Netflix's UK charts on Boxing Day. Cashing in on its popularity, SVT has even been sending out push notifications when the first moose appears, while a dedicated Facebook group with more than 76,000 members now shares sightings, screenshots and speculation about the next appearance. Though official viewing figures for this year's season have yet to be released, SVT has already confirmed the moose will return next spring for an eighth edition.
Forbes
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘The Great Moose Migration': Sweden's Slow-TV Hit Captivates Millions
A moose rests in a sunny Swedish forest in a screenshot from live coverage of the animals' annual ... More migration. The hottest reality show on Swedish television doesn't feature bickering housewives or shocking last-minute twists. It captures an entirely unscripted, unedited sight: moose in northern Sweden making their annual spring migration. And viewers can't get enough. The Great Moose Migration is a 24-hour livestream of moose heading toward rich summer grazing pastures along routes they've traveled for several thousand years. I tuned in Thursday morning to spot several moose ambling through a sun-speckled forest. Sometimes they were barely visible through the tall trees. Other times, they stepped into full view, chilling unbothered on an open patch of forest floor. A meditative soundtrack plays in the background like something straight out of the Calm app. The annual livestream of the migration — captured by remote and night cameras and drones — started airing in 2019, pulling in almost a million viewers. Viewer numbers swelled to 9 million last year, according to Sveriges Television, or SVT, Sweden's public television broadcaster. This year's footage started airing Tuesday on the SVT platform SVT Play and will stream for 20 days, available to viewers around the globe. Once the stream ends, it will still be available on the SVT Play, alongside archived past migrations complete with transcripts of the delightfully enthusiastic viewer chats. The 2025 show arrived a week earlier than scheduled, due to warmer weather that has the animals (often called elk in Europe) crossing the Angerman River northwest of Stockholm earlier than usual. Livestreams of animals have become immensely popular, perhaps as an antidote to our fast-paced, electronics-saturated lives. Earlier this year, viewers worldwide tuned in to watch bald eagle eggs hatch on a Big Bear live nest cam. A public Facebook group whose name translates to 'We who like the great moose migration on SVT!' has nearly 80,000 members who share screenshots from The Great Moose Migration and even photos of their pets staring at the screen. The group's members ask questions and exchange information about moose behavior and share why they're so captivated by the sight of moose on the move. 'It's supposed to be slow TV, but sometimes you have your heart in your throat,' group member Annelie Katten Eriksson wrote. Wrote =AZXMHNNFoTNrss1EkbGe3k8nmlVmhvuv5XUjufefQlEdjl_RmpVmVH2jhQobM1GKsBYqn935cKDMn5a5zByDytK6dJJcY6UQoz42JVoF8xxyfwp0Nl-xsf4IvWadguLFxekmxsf3un-bNSajlB1dZUUBqNwL1zi9j-YftfiTyAUM0bE8mwAascy4RRtCyF2fYRx-ufln8nx8--IXS-UD1wvm&__tn__=-UC%2CP-R">Cattis Nyman, 'I'm impressed with how they find where they're going. They know the smell of the others. Amazing animal.' The message appeared atop a screengrab of a single moose. 'Below is my friend Bosse,' Nyman wrote. The Great Moose Migration takes viewers on an epic moose journey, but at times the livestream lingers beyond the animals themselves to train on their peaceful beauty of their natural surroundings: a stream running past a snowy bank or the rising sun piercing the early-morning darkness. When the show first started airing, its producers worried those sorts of serene scenes might be the only ones their cameras would capture. A behind-the scenes episode flashes back to that tense beginning, when a week passed and cameras had only captured images of birds, silent woodlands and trees swaying in the wind. Executive producer Johan Erhag recalls the panicked calls from SVT execs wanting to know: 'When are they going to show up? Where are the moose?' On the ground in Sweden with binoculars and from a control room in a lighthouse, the crew waited, and waited. Then, it finally came, the commotion of moose. 'It really sent your pulse racing,' producer Stefan Edlund said. 'It was insanely cool.' Loyal viewers have had the same reaction as they watch the natural drama unfold on their screens. 'I love watching it,' one fan quoted in the behind-the-scenes episode says. 'It is like my equivalent of the Super Bowl.' The Great Moose Migration may have have touchdowns or halftime shows, but for many, watching a stately animal strolling through the woods is must-see TV.
BBC News
16-04-2025
- BBC News
Sweden's Great Moose Migration: Millions watch 24-hour rolling livestream
Every spring for the past six years, millions of people tune in to a round-the-clock livestream of moose on the move in northern Sweden."The Great Moose Migration" tracks the animals as they swim across the Angerman River and make their annual journey toward greener, summer year's 24-hour programme from SVT Play, the streaming platform for Sweden's national broadcaster, began on Tuesday - a week ahead of schedule because of the warmer weather this broadcast has become a "slow TV" phenomenon, cultivating a loyal fanbase since its inception in 2019. Cait Borjesson, 60, who has been hooked to the annual livestream since she stumbled upon it during the Covid-19 pandemic, said her TV had been on for 16 straight hours since it began on Tuesday."It's unbelievably relaxing," she said. "There's the natural sounds of the birds, the wind, the trees. It gives you a sense that you're in nature even if you're not". For Cait, watching the migration has become a yearly tradition, so much so that she books time off work to fully immerse herself in the three-week said the stream was "like therapy" which had helped her anxiety and panic she is not alone. SVT's livestream has a wide audience, including a Facebook group boasting more than 77,000 members who come together to share their memorable moments, emotional reactions to the broadcast and their shared fascination of the migration.A major part of their journey captured by SVT is through the village of Kullberg in northern Sweden, next to the Ericsson, dean of the faculty of forest sciences at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and science advisor for the broadcast, said the moose migrate back to the summer ranges after aggregating in spots with better temperatures in the winter."Historically, this migration has been going on since the ice age," he said. "During spring and summer, moose are more evenly spread out in the landscape."He added that around 95% of the moose in northern Sweden migrate annually, adding that early migrations were not new with this year's prompted by less snow on the ground. "Early springs happen occasionally," he said. "We're still within the normal range of variation."More than 30 cameras are used to capture the moose as they move through the vast landscapes, he show drew in nearly a million people during its launch in 2019, before garnering nine million viewers in Truong, a researcher at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences who has surveyed viewers of the livestream, said in a fast-paced media environment, people enjoy experiencing nature through this "slow TV" style - a genre characterised by long, un-edited and real-time broadcasts."A lot of people say it's like an open window to a forest," he says. "When you ask them if they would prefer having music in the background, or commentary, they say they prefer just having the sound of the wind, the birds and trees."Sweden's woodlands are home to about 300,000 moose. The animal is known in the Scandinavian country as "King of the Forest".
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Millions tune in to see Sweden's annual moose migration
Millions of viewers are expected to tune in to one of TV's unlikely hits over the next few weeks, as herds of moose make their annual spring migration toward summer grazing pastures. Nine million people watched Sweden's Great Moose Migration last year, despite not much happening for hours at a time. From now until May 4, remote cameras track dozens of the animals as they swim across the Angerman River, some 187 miles northwest of Stockholm. The 24-hour live stream began airing on Sweden's national broadcaster SVT on Tuesday, a week ahead of schedule due to warm weather and early moose movement. It's a 20-day slow TV event that's become a phenomenon, and its fans say the lack of action is one of the attractions. Ulla Malmgren, 62, said she stocked up on coffee and prepared meals in advance so as not to miss a moment of the event. "Sleep? Forget it. I don't sleep," she said. Nearly a million people watched some or all of its first year in 2019, rising to nine million in 2024. Slow TV began in 2009 when Norwegian public broadcaster NRK showed a seven-hour train trip across the southern part of the country and it has since spread to the UK, China and elsewhere. Annette Hill, a professor of media and communications at Jonkoping University in Sweden, said slow TV has roots in reality television but feels more authentic as unstaged productions allow the audience to relax and watch the journey unfold. Professor Hill said viewers enjoy the show because "nothing catastrophic is happening, nothing spectacular is happening. But something very beautiful is happening in that minute-by-minute moment". She called it a chance for her to have "a calm, atmospheric setting in my own home, and I really appreciate it". Read more:Gazans 'dying slowly under rubble'Rare colossal squid captured on cameraMixed UK weather over Easter Up to 15 SVT staff work on the broadcast and enjoy lower stress levels, according to project manager Johan Erhag, who said it's cheap, given it delivered more than 500 hours of footage last year. The moose have walked the route for thousands of years, making it easy for the crew to know where to lay almost 12 miles of cable and position 26 remote cameras and seven night cameras. A drone is also used. Around 300,000 of the typically shy and solitary herbivores live in Sweden's woods. The Scandinavian country's largest animal is known as the 'King of the Forest'. A bull moose can reach 6ft 10in at shoulder height and weigh 450kg (992lbs).
Sky News
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Sky News
Millions tune in to see Sweden's annual moose migration
Why you can trust Sky News Millions of viewers are expected to tune in to one of TV's unlikely hits over the next few weeks, as herds of moose make their annual spring migration toward summer grazing pastures. Nine million people watched Sweden's Great Moose Migration last year, despite not much happening for hours at a time. From now until May 4, remote cameras track dozens of the animals as they swim across the Angerman River, some 187 miles northwest of Stockholm. The 24-hour live stream began airing on Sweden's national broadcaster SVT on Tuesday, a week ahead of schedule due to warm weather and early moose movement. It's a 20-day slow TV event that's become a phenomenon, and its fans say the lack of action is one of the attractions. Ulla Malmgren, 62, said she stocked up on coffee and prepared meals in advance so as not to miss a moment of the event. "Sleep? Forget it. I don't sleep," she said. Nearly a million people watched some or all of its first year in 2019, rising to nine million in 2024. Slow TV began in 2009 when Norwegian public broadcaster NRK showed a seven-hour train trip across the southern part of the country and it has since spread to the UK, China and elsewhere. Annette Hill, a professor of media and communications at Jonkoping University in Sweden, said slow TV has roots in reality television but feels more authentic as unstaged productions allow the audience to relax and watch the journey unfold. Professor Hill said viewers enjoy the show because "nothing catastrophic is happening, nothing spectacular is happening. But something very beautiful is happening in that minute-by-minute moment". She called it a chance for her to have "a calm, atmospheric setting in my own home, and I really appreciate it". Up to 15 SVT staff work on the broadcast and enjoy lower stress levels, according to project manager Johan Erhag, who said it's cheap, given it delivered more than 500 hours of footage last year. The moose have walked the route for thousands of years, making it easy for the crew to know where to lay almost 12 miles of cable and position 26 remote cameras and seven night cameras. A drone is also used. Around 300,000 of the typically shy and solitary herbivores live in Sweden's woods. The Scandinavian country's largest animal is known as the 'King of the Forest'. A bull moose can reach 6ft 10in at shoulder height and weigh 450kg (992lbs).
