‘Rs 33 crore wasted’: Former Ola electric marketing head questions Deepika Padukone’s viral Instagram reel

Bollywood star Deepika Padukone recently shared an Instagram reel as part of a paid partnership with a leading hotel chain. The video, which showcased her stay experience, quickly went viral and reportedly racked up a staggering 1.9 billion views — an unprecedented figure for a social media post in India.

However, Nitin Chandil, former Marketing Head at Ola Electric, isn’t convinced that the numbers tell the full story. Taking to Instagram, Chandil said he was “flabbergasted” after reading reports about the reel’s view count.

He pointed out that of the 1.9 billion views, only 1.3 million resulted in likes — a mere 0.07% engagement rate. By comparison, Padukone’s other reels typically receive around 5 million views with an engagement rate close to 5%.

“This clearly suggests it’s a boosted (paid) campaign, which usually leads to lower engagement,” Chandil claimed. He estimated that organic views could be at most 10 million, implying that nearly 1.89 billion of the views were likely paid.

Factoring in Instagram’s average cost per thousand impressions (CPM) at around $2, Chandil calculated the campaign’s cost at roughly Rs 33 crore. He questioned whether such a massive spend made sense for what he described as “not so engaging content.”

Chandil later clarified that his CPM assumption might be on the higher side, suggesting the actual spend could be between Rs 8 crore and Rs 15 crore. “But even then, burning so much money just to set a record and gain PR isn’t cool,” he remarked.

The post sparked a debate online. Some LinkedIn users criticized the spend as wasteful, suggesting the budget could have been better utilized for influencer-driven or grassroots campaigns. Others defended the move, pointing out that the “world’s most viewed reel” tag has immense global PR value and that the buzz alone might justify the cost for a brand of Hilton’s scale.

One LinkedIn user commented: “Even if it’s 1 crore, they could have done some UGC influencer marketing or a mass campaign that benefits people instead of just burning money for views.”

Another defended the strategy: “The fact that we’re discussing it shows the PR value. The ‘world’s most viewed’ tag is massive. For a brand like Hilton, 33 crore is peanuts if the global buzz is this huge.”

A third was more critical: “If it’s really 33 crore, that’s almost a criminal offence. I’d love to hear the brand’s rationale.”