Suffering, Compassion and the Telethon

An explorative study is conducted on La Marató de TV3, as it is the most popular telethon in Catalonia and is responsible for the most fundraising in all of Spain. The most recent edition, in December 2010, raised ¿ 8,735,103, the highest amount raised in the telethon¿s history. This study focuses on the two aspects that are key in explaining the success of this Catalan telethon: the production and the audience. The production of the telethon with references to the content and the audience reactions and involvement (participation and donation) are studied to find out what specific elements enable the telethon¿s success. La Marató de TV3 is not yet analyzed in this way by other researchers.