'₹33 crore wasted': Ex-Ola Electric marketing head says Deepika Padukone's viral Instagram reel left him 'flabbergasted'. Here's why

Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone recently shared an Instagram reel which was part of a paid partnership with a famous hotel chain. The video quickly went viral and garnered a total of around 1.9 billion views. 

Nitin Chandil, former marketing head at Ola Electric, said in a LinkedIn post that he was 'flabbergasted' with the view count of Deepika Padukone's viral Instagram reel. He said that numbers did not convey the full story. 

Chandil explained that the reel got around 1.9 billion and only 1.3 million likes, which translates to only 0.03 per cent views. He mentioned that this is much lower than what Padukone's average reel views look like. 

As per the former Ola Electric marketing head, Deepika's average Instagram reel views stand at around 5 million, with an engagement rate of around 5 per cent. "Which means its a boosted (paid campaign) reel leading to thus lower engagement," he wrote in his post. 

He said that organic views on the reel could be around 10 million on the higher side, alluding to the fact that around 1.89 billion views were likely paid. 

Considering Instagram's average cost per impressions (CPM) is roughly $2, he calculated the campaign's cost at approximately ₹33 crore. 

"Is it worth to put such an amount on Instagram for a clearly, not so engaging content (its an ad made like an ad)? Such a waste in today's times when you can do so much more in that money!! How would you do it with 33 Cr?" Chandil wrote. 

Watch the viral reel here

The post sparked a conversation online, with some users calling the spending as wasteful as the ad was not all that engaging. Others, however, backed the ad spend and pointed out that the buzz after "world's most viewed reel" label alone might justfiy the cost for a brand as big as Hilton. 

"The creative itself is so boring. Messaging seems all over the place. Hilton me rehne waale kya hustle kartein hain? tons of money on production but from a metric perspective the cartier reel where she is just standing with a VO seems to have outperformed many times over Hilton," a user commented. 

A second user said: "It’s a wrong estimate. Max they would have spent would be in lakhs. It’s quite achievable. As in few thousands you get million of views easily."

"Assuming that it is 33cr, it is almost a criminal offence. Would love to hear the rationale the brand and media manager have for this one," another user wrote. 

"I would guess a lower ad spend, assuming lower CPM and some element of Virality. When loss making soonicorns are having 10x annual ad spends, cash rich, profitable businesses cannot be faulted for trying to be heard over the din," a fourth user weighed in.