Sydney Sweeney has joined Novig as a strategic partner and equity holder while fronting the sports prediction market’s first national brand campaign. Released Sept. 9, the “Just Sports” campaign features the actress nude or partially covered by footballs, basketballs, hockey equipment, and other sports gear, while emphasizing that Novig offers markets only on sporting events.
Novig CEO Jacob Fortinsky said Sweeney approached the company about working together and ultimately took an ownership position, although the size and value of her stake have not been disclosed. Sweeney was involved in the creative process while filming Netflix’s live-action Gundam project in Australia, and told Complex she had participated in campaign discussions from the beginning.
Sweeney was partly drawn to Novig because it does not offer prediction markets on politics, deaths, wars, celebrity activity, or other non-sports events. Fortinsky said she had been uncomfortable with contracts available elsewhere that speculated on personal details about her, including the color of her underwear. The commercial turns that distinction into its main pitch, repeatedly returning to Novig’s “Just Sports” slogan while Sweeney demonstrates different sports using the equipment around her.
The campaign generated more than 3 million views on X within its first day, while the YouTube version reached around 72,000 views during its first 12 hours. Novig released it immediately before the NFL season opener, one of the most important customer-acquisition periods for US sports betting and prediction platforms. The company also plans to involve Sweeney in a future responsible-trading campaign.
Novig launched its federally regulated prediction market nationwide on Aug. 4 after receiving Designated Contract Market status from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Users must be at least 21, and the platform operates as an exchange where customers trade contracts on sports outcomes against each other instead of placing conventional fixed-odds bets against a sportsbook.
The company raised $75 million in a Series B round led by Pantera Capital in February, taking its total funding above $105 million and valuing the business at $500 million. Novig said its trading volume grew more than tenfold during 2025 and reached an annualized platform volume of $4 billion. The funding was raised while the company was pursuing its CFTC designation and preparing to expand beyond the more limited state-by-state model it previously used.
Novig also signed the New York Mets as its exclusive official prediction market partner on July 30, becoming the first prediction market company to secure a partnership with an individual MLB franchise. The multi-year agreement includes Citi Field signage, broadcast exposure, digital content, promotions, and other activations, while Novig’s status as an MLB Authorized Prediction Market gives it access to official league data and MLB’s integrity framework.
Sweeney gives Novig a much larger consumer marketing presence only a month after its nationwide launch. Kalshi and Polymarket already have greater prediction-market brand recognition and have spent heavily on sports partnerships of their own, while Novig has more than $100 million in funding, a CFTC-regulated national platform, and an MLB partnership with the New York Mets. The Sweeney campaign now gives the company a recognizable celebrity partner as it competes for US sports traders ahead of the NFL season.