Why CPM-on-predicted-views wins
A brand buying paid media thinks in CPM — cost per thousand impressions — and CAC. When your rate translates cleanly into those units, a growth lead can compare you against their Meta and Google spend and say yes with a number, not a feeling. When your rate is "₹X because I have Y followers", they have nothing to compare it to, so they lowball.
Predicted views also protects you. If your content over-delivers against your follower count — common for tech creators with small, dense audiences — follower pricing systematically underpays you. Pricing on delivery captures that value. This is why Orca shows brands a fair-value benchmark built from closed deals next to your rate: offers arrive realistic instead of anchored on a guess.
Build the number
- 1Predicted views: take your last 10 posts of the same format on the same platform and use the median, not the mean — one viral outlier should not set a price you must defend every deal. Recent posts only; your account a year ago is not your inventory today.
- 2Your defensible CPM: derive it from your own history. Take what a brand last paid you, divide by the views that post actually got, multiply by 1,000. No history yet? Start from what the brand would pay for comparable reach in paid ads on that platform, then adjust for what they cannot buy there: your voice, your audience's trust, and content they can reuse.
- 3Rate = predicted views × CPM ÷ 1,000. Illustrative arithmetic only: a reel with a 40,000-view median at a ₹900 CPM prices at ₹36,000. Your medians and your CPM will differ — that is the point of computing them.
Audience composition moves CPM more than size does. Fifteen thousand developers or founders watching is worth a multiple of a general-entertainment audience to a dev-tools brand, because those views convert. Know what your audience is worth to the category you serve, and say it in the negotiation.
Set a band, not a number
Walk into every negotiation with three numbers per placement type:
- Floor — below this you decline, because delivering well costs you production time you could spend on your own content. Declining an offer on Orca never affects your ranking.
- Target — the CPM-derived rate above. This is the number you quote.
- Stretch — target plus the premiums: full usage rights, exclusivity, rush timelines.
Publish your target as your rate card on Orca. A visible, defensible rate filters out the brands who were never going to pay it and speeds up the ones who will.
Counter with scope, not just price
When an offer lands below target, the amateur move is to split the difference on price. The professional move is to change what's included. Every one of these is a legitimate counter:
- Usage rights: organic-only at the base rate; running your content as paid ads or on the brand's channels is a separate line — it has a market price, because it replaces ad creative they would otherwise pay to produce.
- Exclusivity: locking you out of competitor deals for a period costs real future income. Price it.
- Revisions: base rate includes one consolidated revision round. More rounds, more money.
- Timeline: a week's notice is standard; 48-hour turnarounds carry a rush premium.
- Deliverable count: at a lower rate, offer one placement instead of the bundle — don't discount the bundle.
The money mechanics on Orca
Two things to know so the net amount never surprises you. First, Orca's platform fee is charged to the brand on top of your rate — your rate is never reduced by it. Second, TDS is withheld from your payout at 10% as Indian tax law requires, and Orca issues your Form 16A at year end — the withheld tax is credited against your return, not lost. Separately, once your total service income crosses the GST registration threshold, talk to a CA about registering; that is your obligation, not the brand's.