The Moomin reading marathon drew more viewers than The Unknown Soldier

Mightily the Moomin reading marathon broadcast over the weekend gathered 1.7 million viewers.

Everything was read in a long reading marathon Tove Jansson’s nine original Moomin books. The live broadcast lasted a total of 32 hours.

During the reading marathon, the audience could participate in a real-time conversation via chat. More than 25,000 messages were sent to the service.

In the year 2024 Yle showed a similar reading marathon on Independence Day, where 67 readers read in a broadcast that lasted 18 hours Väinö Linnan a classic work The unknown soldier. It attracted 1.2 million viewers. The program was rebroadcast on the eve of Independence Day last year.

In Yle’s Moomin broadcast, 123 people read aloud nine Moomin-themed books. The reading was broadcast live on Yle Areena and on the Teema television channel, although the news broadcasts interrupted the reading on the latter.

Among the readers were Finns who became famous in various fields, for example artists, athletes and presidents.

The Moomins– the corresponding producer of the reading marathon Jasmiini Lappalainen says that the feedback received by Yleisradio has been very positive.

“This has been really well received, the feedback has only been positive. We followed up [lukulähetyksen yhteydessä Areenassa pyörinyttä] chat, and there has been nothing but incense.”

Väinö Linnan The unknown soldier -the popularity of the reading marathon also inspired the organization of the Moomin reading broadcast.

“It has a very different atmosphere. Back then it was Independence Day and The unknown soldier is an important book for Finns at that time and the world situation. Based on the chat, it seems that this Moomin reading marathon has a much wider audience. The young and the old are together there, and the age range is really wide.”

The Moomins-reading marathon was prepared by a work group of about ten people, and during the actual reading weekend there were even more people. The producer in charge, Jasmiini Lappalainen, is not yet able to say whether there will be other reading adventures later, and the obvious book or author candidate has not yet been considered.

“It will be difficult, because if something turns out to be a hit, then the expectations only grow towards the next one. We want to continue reading marathons in the future, but how and with which book, we will focus on that after the Moomin reading marathon.”