Latest news with #JönköpingUniversity
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The 'Great Moose Migration': Millions tune in for Sweden's epic livestream
The Brief Swedish slow TV hit "The Great Moose Migration" has become a phenomenon. The livestream of the annual event began airing Tuesday, a week ahead of schedule. Millions tune in to watch remote cameras capture dozens of moose as they swim across a river toward summer grazing pastures. A livestream of a wild animal wonder in Sweden is once again captivating the internet. Called "Den stora älgvandringen," the country's TV production of their annual moose migration began this week and is available to stream anywhere in the world. The backstory This time of year, dozens of moose in Sweden swim across the Ångerman River, some 187 miles northwest of Stockholm, heading toward summer grazing pastures. 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. The backstory The show began streaming in 2019 with nearly a million people watching. Last year, the production hit 9 million viewers on SVT Play, the streaming platform for national broadcaster SVT. The crew of up to 15 people works out of SVT's control room in Umeå, producing the show at a distance to avoid interfering with the migration. Where to watch The livestream will be up for 24 hours a day for the next 20 days, and can be watched online here. Dig deeper The livestream kicked off a week ahead of schedule this year due to warm weather and early moose movement. RELATED: Elephants react to San Diego earthquake, swarm around young The moose migration isn't the only wild nature phenomenon to spawn a dedicated audience. In the Netherlands, Utrecht's "fish doorbell" cam enlists help from those watching to "ring a doorbell" that signals authorities to open up a river lock to help fish migrate. Big picture view The doorbell helps protect fish like bream, pike, and bass from predators by preventing them from getting stuck behind the lock. The project, now in its fifth year, has also attracted millions of viewers. Where to watch The livestream is expected to run through late May, and can be watched online here. READ MORE: This 'fish doorbell' cam from the Netherlands is attracting millions The livestream of the moose migration and the fish doorbell cam are examples of slow TV. Slow TV is a genre of a television or streaming production that makes available a long, uninterrupted broadcast of ordinary events, typically in real-time. The backstory It first became popularized in 2009 when Norway's public broadcaster aired every minute of a seven-hour train trip across the southern part of the country. What they're saying Annette Hill, a professor of media and communications at Jönköping University in Sweden, told The Associated Press slow TV has roots in reality television but lacks the staging and therefore feels more authentic for viewers. Why you should care In a stressful, busy, fast-paced world, slow TV can help viewers relax as they watch the journal unfold without any high stakes. Those who work with the moose production say it has helped bring down their stress levels. Slow TV can also build a shared community. SVT's app will send a push alert when moose are on camera, immediately driving a spike in viewership and chat commenters. Thousands of people will suddenly find themselves doing the same thing – admiring and cheering on one of nature's wonders. The Source Information in this article was taken from SVT, Sweden's national TV broadcaster. Background information was taken from The Associated Press, which spoke to people around Sweden and at SVT. This story was reported from Detroit.
CBS News
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
"The Great Moose Migration" 2025 livestream starts in Sweden, delighting millions with slow TV
Sweden's slow TV hit " The Great Moose Migration " kicked off early this year with the livestream set to capture moose crossing a Nordic river over the next few weeks. So far, 14 moose have crossed the river in their annual spring migration, according to the count on the livestream, as of Wednesday, April 16. "The Great Moose Migration" is streamed online by the Swedish national public broadcaster, SVT. It went live on April 15 and is expected to continue until May 4. It is live 24 hours a day. The live broadcast first aired in 2019. Executive producer Johan Erhag and producer Stefan Edlund were inspired by slow TV series produced in Norway, they said in a video on the making of "The Great Moose Migration." The concept of slow TV began in Norway in 2009 with a broadcast of a train ride through a snowy scenery. It ran for seven hours, and about a quarter of the country watched for some part of the journey. That success led to multiple slow TV series. Erhag and Edlund said they visited Norway and saw how producers there installed cameras on a cliffside, capturing different types of birds in the area. "By the time we got back from Norway, we were so inspired. It was impressive. We wanted to do something like that," Edlund said. They just needed a subject. Once they learned that herds of moose cross part of the Ångerman River about 190 miles northwest of Stockholm every year, they started to set up cameras. "We wanted to share this with the population of Sweden," Erhag said. It took a few years to get SVT to take the pitch. And when they launched in 2019, the first few days went by with no moose. Every day that passed with no sightings was more and more tense, Erhag said. But finally, they showed up and walked straight into the camera shot. "We managed to convey this sense of wonder to our viewers," Erhag said. Edlund explained that "a great deal of technology is required" to broadcast something like "The Great Moose Migration." "The location is demanding, due to the river. We need to set up cameras on both sides and there are loads of cables," he said. They lay almost 12 miles of cable and position 26 remote cameras and seven night cameras. A drone is also used. The crew of up to 15 people works out of a control room, producing the show at a distance to avoid interfering with the migration. Thomas Hellum, a producer behind the train broadcast in Norway, told "CBS News Sunday Morning" in 2017 that slow TV needs to be "an unbroken timeline." "It's all the boring stuff in there, all the exciting things in there, so you as a viewer has to find out what's boring and what's interesting," he said. That's true for the moose livestream, which often shows nothing but the scenic woodlands. Nearly a million people watched the first broadcast of "The Great Moose Migration" in 2019, and in 2024, viewership hit 9 million on SVT's streaming platform. Annette Hill, a professor of media and communications at Jönköping University in Sweden, told The Associated Press that slow TV has roots in reality television but lacks the staging and therefore feels more authentic for viewers. The productions allow the audience to relax and watch the journey unfold. "It became, in a strange way, gripping because nothing catastrophic is happening, nothing spectacular is happening," she said. "But something very beautiful is happening in that minute-by-minute moment." The moose migration has attracted many fans. A Facebook group with over 78,000 members lets viewers share updates. "I would actually like to be a little fly on the wall in every household that watches the moose migration," one mega-fan, Ulla Malmgren, told the AP. "Because I think there is about a million people saying about the same thing: 'Go on! Yes, you can do it!'" The Associated Press contributed to this report.
