(VIDEO) Novig Says Trading Rose Nearly 94 Percent After Sydney Sweeney's Ad Drew Soft-Porn Criticism

Novig said trading volume rose nearly 94 percent in the 20 days after a Sydney Sweeney commercial launched, a jump the sports prediction-market company reported alongside a sharp rise in new deposits and app downloads, and alongside criticism that the ad sexualized women in sport.

The "Just Sports" campaign began on Sept. 9, near the start of the NFL season. Sweeney appears with little clothing, using sports equipment to cover herself, while the spot repeats that Novig deals in sports rather than contracts on politics, wars or other non-sport subjects. She is not a conventional endorser. Novig described her as a strategic partner and equity holder. The company has not disclosed the size of the stake. She reportedly approached Novig after being drawn to a sports-only model.

Co-founder Jacob Fortinsky said trading volume rose nearly 94 percent across the 20-day comparison with the 20 days before the ad. The company also said first-time depositors increased by more than 218 percent and app downloads by more than 187 percent. September active users were up 96 percent from August and 260 percent from September a year earlier. The figures are the company's. They do not isolate the commercial from the football calendar, which independently lifts interest in sports markets.

Public relations consultant Mark Borkowski called the advert "cynical soft porn" and said the controversy could help Novig by drawing attention. Olympic swimmer Ariarne Titmus and British sprinter Amy Hunt were among female athletes who criticized the spot, arguing it undercut the seriousness of women's sport. Coverage of the backlash also described a drop of about 200,000 Instagram followers for Sweeney. The company still got the wider audience a prediction-market brand does not usually reach.

Novig was valued at $500 million after an earlier funding round. A later round has been reported at a $2 billion valuation, a fourfold increase. That figure is not the same as the 20-day trading comparison, and the company has not said how much of either number it attributes to the ad. An equity stake means Sweeney could gain if the valuation holds. The size of that gain is not public.

Prediction markets let users trade contracts on outcomes. Novig's pitch in the commercial is the narrow one: sports only. Rivals and larger platforms have offered contracts on elections and news events, a business that has drawn gambling challenges, including a New York attorney general's suit against Polymarket calling its markets unlicensed gambling. A sports-only line is a way to sit next to that fight without joining it. The ad's argument is the category. The pictures are what traveled.

The measurement problem is the one Fortinsky's comparison does not close. A viral spot and the opening of the NFL landed in the same window. Downloads and first deposits can be counted. Retention cannot be read from a 20-day spike. A user who arrived for the argument may not stay for the market. For a young company, recognition is still the scarce good. Borkowski's point was that the argument was the media plan.

What is on the record is narrower than the headline the campaign wanted. Trading volume, new depositors and downloads rose sharply after Sept. 9, by the company's account. Athletes called the ad a setback for women in sport. A consultant called it cynical soft porn. The NFL season started at the same time. Sweeney holds equity of undisclosed size in a firm whose reported valuation has moved from $500 million to $2 billion. The commercial did not prove it caused the growth. It did make the company a subject outside its own market.