Before Swedish slow TV hit \u201cThe Great Moose Migration\u201d began airing Tuesday, Ulla Malmgren stocked up on coffee and prepared meals so she doesn\u2019t miss a moment of the 20-day, 24-hour event. <\/p>\n
\u201cSleep? Forget it. I don\u2019t sleep,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Malmgren, 62, isn\u2019t alone. The show, called \u201c Den stora \u00e4lgvandringen \u201d in Swedish, and sometimes translated as \u201cThe Great Elk Trek\u201d in English, began in 2019 with nearly a million people watching. In 2024, the production hit 9 million viewers on SVT Play, the streaming platform for national broadcaster SVT. <\/p>\n
The livestream kicked off a week ahead of schedule due to warm weather and early moose movement. Malmgren was ready. <\/p>\n
From now until May 4, the livestream\u2019s remote cameras will capture dozens of moose as they swim across the \u00c5ngerman River, some 300 kilometers (187 miles) northwest of Stockholm, in the annual spring migration toward summer grazing pastures. <\/p>\n
Not much happens for hours at a time, and fans say that\u2019s the beauty of it. <\/p>\n
\u201cI feel relaxed, but at the same time I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh, there\u2019s a moose. Oh, what if there\u2019s a moose? I can\u2019t go to the toilet!\u2019\u201d said William Garp Liljefors, 20, who has collected more than 150 moose plush toys since 2020. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Great Moose Migration\u201d is part of a trend that began in 2009 with Norwegian public broadcaster NRK\u2019s minute-by-minute airing of a seven-hour train trip across the southern part of the country. <\/p>\n
The slow TV style of programming has spread, with productions in the United Kingdom, China and elsewhere. The central Dutch city of Utrecht, for example, installed a \u201c fish doorbell\u201d on a river lock that lets livestream viewers alert authorities to fish being held up as they migrate to spawning grounds. <\/p>\n
Annette Hill, a professor of media and communications at J\u00f6nk\u00f6ping 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. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt became, in a strange way, gripping because nothing catastrophic is happening, nothing spectacular is happening,\u201d she said. \u201cBut something very beautiful is happening in that minute-by-minute moment.\u201d <\/p>\n
As an expert and a fan of \u201cThe Great Moose Migration,\u201d Hill said the livestream helps her slow down her day by following the natural rhythms of spring. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is definitely a moment to have a calm, atmospheric setting in my own home, and I really appreciate it,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
The calming effect extends to the crew, according to Johan Erhag, SVT\u2019s project manager for \u201cThe Great Moose Migration.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone who works with it goes down in their normal stress,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
The moose have walked the route for thousands of years, making it easy for the crew to know where to lay some 20,000 meters (almost 12 miles) of cable and position 26 remote cameras and seven night cameras. A drone is also used. <\/p>\n
The crew of up to 15 people works out of SVT\u2019s control room in Ume\u00e5, producing the show at a distance to avoid interfering with the migration. <\/p>\n
SVT won\u2019t say how much the production costs, but Erhag said it\u2019s cheap when accounting for the 506 hours of footage aired last year. <\/p>\n
Erhag said Swedes have always been fascinated by the roughly 300,000 moose roaming in their woods. The Scandinavian country\u2019s largest animal is known as \u201cKing of the Forest.\u201d A bull moose can reach 210 centimeters (6 feet 10 inches) at shoulder height and weigh 450 kilograms (992 pounds). <\/p>\n
Despite their size, the herbivores are typically shy and solitary. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe actually don\u2019t see it very often. You often see it when you\u2019re out driving maybe once or twice in your life,\u201d Erhag said. \u201cI think that\u2019s one thing why it has been so, so popular. And then you bring in the nature to everyone\u2019s living room.\u201d <\/p>\n
Hanna Sandberg, 36, first began watching the show in 2019, though she didn\u2019t spot any moose. She tuned in the following year, finally saw some and got hooked. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou can watch them and be a part of their natural habitat in a way that you could never be otherwise,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
After hours of showing an empty forest, a camera captures footage of a moose approaching the riverbank. Suddenly, slow TV turns urgent. <\/p>\n
The push alert hits SVT\u2019s app \u2014 \u201cF\u00f6rsta \u00e4lgarna i bild!\u201d which translates to \u201cFirst moose on camera!\u201d \u2014 as viewers worldwide tune in. The livestream\u2019s chat explodes as commenters type encouragement for the animal, now making its way into the water. <\/p>\n
\u201dI would actually like to be a little fly on the wall in every household that watches the moose migration. Because I think there is about a million people saying about the same thing: \u2018Go on! Yes, you can do it!\u2019\u201d Malmgren said. <\/p>\n
Mega-fans like Malmgren, who is in a Facebook group of 76,000-plus viewers, are committed to watching as many hours as possible. Some viewers on Tuesday posted photos of their dogs and cats staring at their televisions, enthralled by the moose on the screen. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was late to school because I saw moose and my teacher was like, \u2018What, you saw moose in the city?\u2019 And I was like, \u2018No, it\u2019s on the TV,\u2019\u201d Garp Liljefors said ahead of Tuesday\u2019s showing. <\/p>\n
Malmgren said friends and family have learned not to bother her when the moose are on the move. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen someone asks me, \u2018What are you doing? Oh, never mind, it\u2019s the great migration,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cThey know.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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