When actress Sydney Sweeney bared all to promote a new app, she likely knew it was going to cause some controversy. (Her content always does.)
At the same time though, insiders are revealing there was a little more thought behind Sweeney’s project than what can be seen by the naked eye.
‘In some sense, it forces us into the national discourse.’
Sweeney’s provocative near-nude ad had her covering herself with only sports balls to promote Novig, a platform described as a sports-only prediction market. Like Polymarket or Kalshi, users can buy futures on what might happen in sports.
“Think you know sports? Prove it!” Sweeney says in the ad.
The app falls under a category that is considered to be closer to stock trading than it is gambling, circumventing state laws.
But while existing platforms let users trade futures in sports, politics, and even pop culture, Novig’s claim is that it will stick to just sports. Apparently, Sweeney helped push that focus.
When Sweeney approached Novig and showed she was “interested in some kind of equity partnership,” she reportedly noted that she was “uncomfortable” with the types of markets that other companies in the same industry were pushing.
At the time of this writing, both Kalshi and Polymarket have politics as their shining star on their front pages. While both are currently focused on the Fed, Kalshi also pushes politics and elections as its top-two categories.
For Novig, co-founder and CEO Jacob Fortinsky says Sweeney helped deliver the company’s “sports only” pitch “in a way that’s impossible to ignore,” the Washington Times reported.
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Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty Image
Fortinsky also alluded to Front Office Sports in an interview that he knew Sweeney would be the perfect person to wedge the company into the headlines.
“Sydney is great at captivating audiences and being the center of attention,” Fortinsky said. “In some sense, it forces us into the national discourse.”
With the 29-year-old actress as an equity owner, it has become obvious that she is looking to corner a nonpolitical market. Her ability to parry political questions from reporters has become legend as she is constantly criticized for something intangible every time she is featured in a popular promotion.
“We’re very excited to have her on the cap table,” Fortinsky said.
In his interview, Fortinsky reportedly would not reveal Sweeney’s equity stake, and the figure is not publicly known.
As a whole, Novig has increased its value to $500 million since starting in 2021 and had a $75 million funding round in 2026, Business Insider reported.
“It will be interesting to see if Novig can translate this big ad moment into sustained interest,” Jessica Pratt, Peak Metrics’ VP of marketing told the outlet.
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“I don’t like to just put my face on something,” Sweeney publicly said; and for that reason, she faced backlash.
Female athletes across the world accused Sweeney of setting them back with her sexual imagery, but these same women were quickly reprimanded by online readers who pointed to their own scantily clad photos.
Sweeney silently retaliated by posting images of athletes posing nude for ESPN magazine’s “Body” issue, juxtaposing their cover photos with her own ad.
Former UFC champion Ronda Rousey, tennis players Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki, and even male athletes like NFL champ Rob Gronkowski appeared on Sweeney’s Instagram story to make her point.
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