Puppy Live is exactly what it sounds like.
asserted
it → sound → what
It’s a 24/7 livestream of newborn puppies.
asserted
It → ’ → puppies
And it sometimes seems everyone in Finland is invested.
asserted
everyone → seem → Finland
“It’s a form of stress relief,” said Kalle Kurittu, 32, who lives in Helsinki and has watched for years.
asserted
who → ’ → years
“I love all the puppies equally,” said Mandi Salo, 9, also of Helsinki, who said she was excited when one pup opened its eyes.
asserted
pup → love → eyes
Puppy Live (“Pentulive” in Finnish) – is something like The Truman Show for a litter, raised from birth to adoption in front of an adoring public.
asserted
Live → raise → public
Broadcast by Yle, Finland’s public broadcaster, the stream is a phenomenon, with well over 1 million viewers.
asserted
stream → Broadcast → viewers
Now, in its sixth year, the show is going international.
asserted
show → go → year
Sweden’s public broadcaster, SVT, has started streaming it.
asserted
broadcaster → start → it
A Dutch broadcaster has bought the rights for a spinoff (with Dutch puppies).
asserted
broadcaster → buy → puppies
Yle (pronounced OO-lay) has even launched a Puppy Live podcast and, in a very 2026 move, released a prediction-market game to run for the eight weeks of the season.
asserted
Yle → pronounce → season
Even though the babies sleep some 20 hours a day, there’s plenty to bet on: How much do they weigh?
asserted
they → sleep → much
Which will grow fastest?
asserted
Which → grow → ?
Players earn points, and weekly winners get a mug.
asserted
winners → earn → mug
At any given minute, the puppies, currently two weeks old, are probably sleeping.
asserted
puppies → give → minute
They twitch on a purple blanket like furry potatoes.
asserted
They → twitch → potatoes
Mostly, nothing much happens.
asserted
nothing → happen → ?
‘We call it puppy therapy.
asserted
We → call → it
’Minttu Hahtola, podcast host
And that’s the point.
asserted
that → ’ → ?
“I think anyone who is interested in the livestream expects to see sleeping puppies a lot of the time,” said Pietu Ruuttunen, 28, a viewer in the city of Jyvaskyla.
asserted
Ruuttunen → think → Jyvaskyla
The Norwegians pioneered the form, broadcasting hours of firewood burning or the view from a moving train.
asserted
Norwegians → pioneer → train
Each year, Swedes flock to a livestream of a moose migration.
asserted
Swedes → flock → migration
They’ve got a lot of options.
asserted
They → get → options
There was a livestream of groceries moving down a checkout conveyor belt.
asserted
groceries → be → belt
Freshwater seals playing in a lake.
asserted
seals → play → lake
At first glance, the feeds could look like a screensaver.
uncertain
feeds → look → screensaver
The genre is rooted in service television, said Annette Hill, a professor of media and communication studies at Jonkoping University in Sweden.
asserted
Hill → root → Sweden
Because public broadcasters do not need to advertise or sell products, they can invest in programs free from commercial demands.
asserted
they → need → demands
Viewers find it soothing – almost therapeutic.
asserted
it → find → ?
“That’s what this slow TV does,” Hill said.
asserted
Hill → ’ → what
“It makes you be in the present, and it makes you slow down and stop this frenzy and stop scrolling and stop panicking about what’s going to happen tomorrow.”
asserted
what → make → frenzy
The mother, Hilkka, stays calm even as her progeny kick, thrash, and scramble over one another to nurse.
asserted
progeny → stay → one
(Veterinarians carefully select and support the mothers, and all the puppies on the show have been born healthy, according to Yle’s website.)
uncertain
puppies → select → website
Puppy Live started during the coronavirus pandemic.
asserted
Live → start → pandemic
Finns, like everyone else, needed comfort.
asserted
Finns → need → comfort
(Kurittu said he had “fond memories of coming home drunk just in time to happen upon the mother halfway to a litter”.
asserted
he → say → litter
But many also needed a crash course in dogs.
asserted
many → need → dogs
Many people stuck at home were suddenly spending more time with their own.
asserted
people → stick → own
Others decided to adopt.
asserted
Others → decide → ?
Pirjo Koskinen, the show’s founder, said she had wanted to create something educational and was surprised by the response.
asserted
she → say → response
…and 17 more, not listed.
The Aporia
