Lapland based Santatelevision YouTube channel doubled last year’s numbers with over 250,000 subscribers and around 110 million video views in total.
Produced in Rovaniemi and Pello in Finnish Lapland, Santatelevision is Finland’s most international YouTube channel: 98% of viewers live outside Finland. In 2018, Italy, France and Spain were the top-ranked countries. Latin America made up about 40% of viewers.
The Santatelevision YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/santatelevision ) is produced by Rovaniemi-based Joulupukki TV (www.joulupukkitv.com/en ). Just like tourism in Lapland, Santa’s YouTube channel is booming: the number of subscribers to the Santatelevision channel doubled in 2018, says Tommi Lappalainen, CEO of Joulupukki TV. Currently, the channel has about 250,000 subscribers, and the videos on the various channels have been viewed about 110 million times. Every year, tens of millions of people watch the stories of the real Santa Claus in Finnish Lapland.
Santatelevision: one of Finland’s most international YouTube channels
Though the number of Finnish viewers on the channel is growing, they represent only a small percentage of the total audience. In 2018, the channel was viewed most by Italy (14% of viewers), France (14%), and Spain (10%). Latin America represented about 40% of total viewers.
The Santatelevision videos are filmed Rovaniemi’s many Christmas holiday attractions, such as Santa Claus Main Post Office on the Arctic Circle in Rovaniemi and in Pello on the western border of Finnish Lapland. Joulupukki TV recently opened the Santatelevision studio in Pello.
The most popular videos on the Santatelevision channel are greetings from the Santa Claus and stories about his reindeer. Videos on the channel are typically 5-10 minutes long. Presently, Santatelevision has about 80 different Santa Claus videos, most available in six languages (English, Finnish, French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.)
2019 will see productions starring elvish guests, such as Finnish actor Eero Herranen, with a goal of 200 million video views by the end of the year.
Joulupukki TV has just started pre-production for its 2019 Christmas videos. The channel will be decidedly more elvish this year, with appearances by Finnish actor Eero Herranen, who starred in, among other things, the film Finland’s Funniest Man (Suomen hauskin mies) and the television series, Donna. The goal for Santatelevision’s YouTube by the end of 2019 is 200 million video views and half a million subscribers.
FACTS & FIGURES ABOUT SANTATELEVISION’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL:
- The Santatelevision channel is available in six languages: Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, English and Finnish. Santatelevision also has its own German-language channel.
- The Santatelevision YouTube channel was created in 2010 by Rovaniemi-based Joulupukki TV, which was founded in 2000.
- The Santatelevision channel has about 260 videos in total in different languages.
- Santatelevision’s single most popular video is a Spanish-language video about Santa’s reindeer, which has been viewed about 14 million times.
- In addition to the Santatelevision channel, Joulupukki TV produces, among other things, video services for tourism companies and industries. Joulupukki TV is regularly involved in international TV productions. In November 2018, the company coordinated with French channel C8 for the major television production “Baba en Laponie à la recherche du Père Noël” (Baba in Lapland in Search of Santa Claus).