Key Takeaways
- Sydney Sweeney joined Novig as a strategic partner and equity holder, stake undisclosed.
- Novig markets itself on excluding war, death, and politics contracts from its platform.
- Novig requires users to be 21; Kalshi and Polymarket admit traders aged 18 and over.
Viral Ad Came With Cap Table Entry
The campaign ran on Wednesday, the day the NFL season opened, and is Novig’s first national advertising push. In the ad, Sweeney appears nude, covered by footballs, basketballs and hockey equipment, and delivers the line that carries the company’s positioning: “Think you know sports? Prove it. Novig is just sports. So they wanted to show just sports.” Amusingly, the ad cuts to Sweeney on a pool table, too, saying “You can’t trade this. I just look good here.” She also uses a line chief executive Jacob Fortinsky had posted on X (“No wars. No death. No politics. Just sports”), which he said the actress helped craft.
The commercial went viral within hours, racking up millions of views across X and Instagram, according to Front Office Sports. It is explicit enough to carry an adult content warning on the platform. “Sydney is great at captivating audiences and being the center of attention,” Fortinsky told the outlet. “In some sense, it forces us into the national discourse.” He said it was Sweeney who approached Novig, “interested in some kind of equity partnership,” and that she is now on the cap table. He declined to disclose her ownership stake or what the company paid her to appear in the commercial.
Fortinsky also said Sweeney was drawn to Novig because it is sports-only, and that she was “uncomfortable” with some markets other companies in the sector offer, with the language “no betting on wars or deaths, and no politics” appearing in the ad. A group of United States senators moved in August to restrict disaster-linked contracts in a CFTC rulemaking fight.
The company put the same pitch in its announcement, stating, Novig “combines the mechanics of modern financial exchanges with a sports-first experience,” the release said, describing itself as “the only prediction market to maintain a 21+ age requirement” and claiming it is “setting a higher standard for responsible participation as the category continues to grow.” Fortinsky, quoted in the release, said that “by dedicating ourselves entirely to sports, we have built a better experience for fans.” Speaking to FOS, he used the same framing to defend the ad’s risqué approach, noting the 21-year threshold, against Kalshi and Polymarket admitting traders at 18. In July 2025, Sweeney drew similar attention for an American Eagle denim campaign whose “great jeans” wordplay became a national argument.
The American Gaming Association estimated last week that roughly $5.1 billion of Kalshi’s volume came from users aged 18 to 20, a figure it published while blaming prediction markets for flat NFL handle, and US lawmakers have proposed facial age estimation across sportsbooks and prediction platforms. Novig launched nationwide last month under federal registration and has raised more than $100 million since forming in 2021. Per Fortinsky, more Sweeney ad spots are in the pipeline, including one focusing on responsible trading.
