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The Tamil cinema industry witnessed a digital showdown as the trailers of Sivakarthikeyan’s 'Parasakthi' and Thalapathy Vijay’s 'Jana Nayagan' came out on back-to-back days, garnering billions of views and a massive Twitter war. Although 'Parasakthi' did score the most viewed Tamil film trailer on YouTube in 24 hours with over 40 million views, some netizens are now questioning the views' legitimacy.
Earlier, 'Jana Nayagan' held the record with 34.4 million views in 24 hours, and the sudden increase in views on social media of 'Parasakthi' has raised a lot of eyebrows.
Trending rankings vs. view counts raise red flags online
Soon after the numbers were revealed, fans of Vijay and neutral fans alike noticed a discrepancy. 'Parasakthi' had more views than 'Jana Nayagan,' yet 'Jana Nayagan' was still above 'Parasakthi' on YouTube’s trending tab. The screenshots showing 'Jana Nayagan' trending at the top of YouTube's trending page and 'Parasakthi' lower down on the list prompted the idea that there was mass ad inflation.
Several users claimed that the trailer was heavily circulated in the form of ads, especially ahead of other film trailers like the one for 'Jana Nayagan.
' Therefore, it led to the manipulative inflation of views.
Sudden spikes trigger bot and paid-promotion allegations.
Netizens also pointed to the peculiar pattern of viewership for ‘Parasakthi,’ which went from about a million in the first two hours to over 20 million in a short window. This prompted accusations of bots or paid promotions, with tags to YouTube and YouTube India for due investigation.
The trailer was subjected to hashtags like #NotMyRecordBreakingTrailer and #NonOrganic, and tags were made to ridicule the achievements in impressions without traction in rapid growth on the trending page.
Organic vs. promoted views fuel the Pongal box-office rivalry
Amidst the clamor, some users tried to make a distinction, stressing that YouTube promotions are indeed views but are not organic in character. They contended that while 'Parasakthi' had the advantage of paid exposure after an opening barrage of views, 'Jana Nayagan' has been steadily climbing on the basis of viewer interest alone. As both films head into a high-stakes Pongal clash, 'Jana Nayagan' releasing on January 9 and 'Parasakthi' on January 10, the trailer view debate has only intensified the rivalry, turning a festive box-office battle into a full-blown digital war.




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