August 13, 2025

Bollywood superstar Deepika Padukone recently dropped a dazzling Instagram reel featuring her stay at a major hotel chain. The video quickly went viral, soaring to an eye-popping 1.9 billion views — a number rarely seen on Indian social media! Sounds amazing, right? But hold your excitement because behind the scenes, marketing expert Nitin Chandil has cast some serious doubts. Nitin Chandil, the former Marketing Head at Ola Electric, was “flabbergasted” by the enormous view count. He analyzed the details and found something fishy. Despite 1.9 billion views, the video only had about 1.3 million likes — that’s just 0.07% engagement! Deepika’s other posts usually get a 5% engagement rate with far fewer views. “This clearly suggests it’s a boosted (paid) campaign, which usually leads to lower engagement,” Chandil explained on Instagram. He believes only about 10 million views were genuine, and the rest, around 1.89 billion, were bought through paid promotion. Using Instagram’s average cost of roughly $2 for every thousand views (CPM), Chandil calculated that this campaign might have cost the hotel chain a whopping Rs 33 crore! He later added, “my CPM number might be too high,” and the final cost could fall between Rs 8 crore and Rs 15 crore. Still, he finds it hard to justify spending so much on what he called “not so engaging content.” This revelation has fired up a fierce debate online. Some voices argue that spending such big money for views alone is wasteful. One LinkedIn user remarked, “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.” On the other side, fans of the campaign say the “world’s most viewed reel” label is a huge win for the Hilton brand. One supporter said, “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 commentator was sharper with criticism: “If it’s really 33 crore, that’s almost a criminal offence. I’d love to hear the brand’s rationale.” So, what’s the take? Deepika Padukone’s massive reel did put Hilton on the global map with an unforgettable record. But did the hotel chain splash too much cash on paid views in this glittery social media spectacle? The debate swirls on, mixing business sense with star-studded glitz and social media magic!

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Tags: Deepika padukone, Instagram reel, Hilton, Paid views, Social media marketing, Viral video,