Millions tune in to 24-hour live coverage of Sweden’s epic moose migration

Sweden’s Great Moose Migration has become a slow TV phenomenon.

The 24-hour livestream shows the animals’ annual migration for 20 days on Sweden’s national broadcaster SVT.

On the show – which began airing on Tuesday, a week ahead of schedule – not much happens for hours at a time. Fans say that is the beauty of it.

The production hit nine million viewers last year.

Remote cameras capture dozens of moose as they swim across a river toward summer grazing pastures.

An expert and fan says the broadcast is “gripping because nothing catastrophic is happening” – and even the production crew say their stress eases while working on the show.

Fan Ulla Malmgren stocked up on coffee and prepared meals in advance so she does not miss a moment of the event.

“Sleep? Forget it. I don’t sleep,” she said.

Ms Malmgren, 62, is not alone. The show, called Den stora algvandringen in Swedish, and sometimes translated as The Great Elk Trek in English, began in 2019 with nearly a million people watching.

In 2024, the production hit nine million viewers on streaming platform SVT Play.

The livestream kicked off a week ahead of schedule due to warm weather and early moose movement.

From now until May 4, the livestream’s remote cameras will capture dozens of moose as they swim across the Angerman River, some 187 miles north-west of Stockholm, in the annual spring migration toward summer grazing pastures.

The Great Moose Migration is part of a trend that began in 2009 with Norwegian public broadcaster NRK’s minute-by-minute airing of a seven-hour train trip across the southern part of the country.

The slow TV style of programming has spread, with productions in the UK, China and elsewhere.

The central Dutch city of Utrecht, for example, installed a “fish doorbell” on a river lock that lets livestream viewers alert authorities to fish being held up as they migrate to spawning grounds.

Annette Hill, a professor of media and communications at Jonkoping University in Sweden, said 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,” Prof Hill said. “But something very beautiful is happening in that minute-by-minute moment.”

As an expert and a fan of The Great Moose Migration, Prof Hill said the livestream helps her slow down her day by following the natural rhythms of spring.

“This is definitely a moment to have a calm, atmospheric setting in my own home, and I really appreciate it,” she said.

The calming effect extends to the crew, according to Johan Erhag, SVT’s project manager for The Great Moose Migration.

“Everyone who works with it goes down in their normal stress,” he said.

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 crew of up to 15 people works out of SVT’s control room in Umea, producing the show at a distance to avoid interfering with the migration.

SVT will not say how much the production costs, but Mr Erhag said it is cheap when accounting for the 506 hours of footage aired last year.

Mr Erhag said Swedes have always been fascinated by the roughly 300,000 moose roaming in their 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).

But despite their size, the herbivores are typically shy and solitary.