For three weeks each year, millions of viewers around the world tune into a live stream from the Swedish wilderness, hoping to catch a glimpse of moose making their annual river crossing. The Great Moose Migration, produced by Swedish broadcaster SVT, is a slow TV phenomenon that broadcasts 450 continuous hours from the Västernorrland region. Despite the fact that moose appear on screen on average only once every 400 minutes, the show has amassed a global audience.
The production team, led by co-creators Stefan Edlund and Johan Erhag, rigs the forest and riverbank with 30 cameras and 42 microphones, connected by over 15 miles of cabling. The cameras are not designed for outdoor use, so the team improvises with upturned black plastic buckets wrapped in camouflage netting. Electricity is supplied by nearby residents, and a fibreoptic cable laid along the riverbed keeps the broadcast online.
The idea for the show came when Edlund and Erhag visited local residents Irene Hägglund and Kjell Mähler, who had noticed moose swimming across the Ångerman river each spring. 'We were visiting this couple, and they were standing in the window with binoculars, counting the moose as they crossed. That’s when we had the idea,' Erhag recalls.
The show includes a chat function that allows fans to communicate with each other and the team. 'There might be only 200 people in the group, then a moose starts swimming and suddenly it goes up 10,000, 20,000,' Erhag says. The highest number of moose recorded swimming in a single season was 87 in 2023, and the team hopes to break 100 in 2026.
Edlund describes the project as 'art by accident', noting that nature has formed the perfect spot for the migration. 'Nature has formed this place,' he says, pointing out moose dung and hoof prints in the undergrowth. The show has been running for seven seasons, with the team constantly expanding the camera coverage to capture the widest sweep of the river.
