Tamil cinema has long surpassed the need to flex YouTube numbers, but in rare occassions where the views / likes are record-breakingly high or are aligned with a head-to-head competition, they end up becoming a highlight. Kollywood is currently gearing up a big Pongal box-office clash on January 11, 2023, with Ajith starrer Thunivu and Vijay starrer Varisu. 

Thunivu trailer was unveiled on New Year's eve and the video ended up garnering a whopping 30 million real time views in 24 hours on YouTube. The updated view count of Thunivu trailer within the first 24 hours of release was 24. 96 million. Many hailed this number to be significantly big, considering the 'measly-in-Tamil-cinema-terms ' (2.67 million) subscriber count of Zee Studios' YouTube channel.

A rage that just hasn't settled. The #ThunivuTrailer hits 30 MILLION+ views in just 24 hours - extraordinary 🔥https://t.co/mPfG9x1i47#Ajithkumar #HVinoth @BoneyKapoor @ZeeStudios_ @BayViewProjOffl @RedGiantMovies_ @NetflixIndia @SureshChandraa #RomeoPictures @mynameisraahul pic.twitter.com/Wh8SznjRj9

— Zee Studios South (@zeestudiossouth) January 1, 2023

Tamil movie trailers released on bigger YouTube channels of Kollywood production houses have had a hard time matching this number. Varisu trailer on the other hand was unveiled on Sun TV's YouTube channel which has a whopping 20.4 million subscriber count; Film producer Dil Raju's YouTube channel premiered the Telugu version of the trailer at the same time. The cumulative real time views of Varisu from these two channels within the first 24 hours was 32 million.

Triple ah thirupi received your love nanba ❤️#VarisuTrailer & #VaarasuduTrailer hits 32M CUMMULATIVE real time views in 24 hrs 🔥

▶️ https://t.co/SXIatTvGF0
▶️ https://t.co/ipIJoPgwv3#Thalapathy @actorvijay sir @directorvamshi @MusicThaman @iamRashmika @karthikpalanidp pic.twitter.com/tjHIlox5ba

— Sri Venkateswara Creations (@SVC_official) January 5, 2023

The updated view count of Varisu trailer from the first 24 hours is 23. 10 million. Official announcements on Varisu and Thunivu trailers' release date and time were made 24 hours before each of its premiere.