How can a new predictive market company gain attention in the face of established competitors such as Kalshi and Polymarket? By bringing in Hollywood star Sydney Sweeney.
The 29-year-old actress appeared in the sexy advertising campaign for Novig's " Just Sports ", where she emphasized that the prediction platform focuses on sports event contracts. Novig launched as a federally regulated prediction market at the beginning of August and released this controversial advertisement on September 9th.
Sweeney said in the advertisement video, "We don't gamble on war or death, nor do we involve politics." She explained that Novig avoids providing event contracts related to these topics. Co-founder Jacob Fortinsky stated that it was this feature that prompted the actress to take the initiative to contact Novig and propose to hold shares in the company. The company has not responded to questions regarding the scale of this celebrity's shareholding.
Fortinsky exclusively informs CNBC that within 20 days before and after the advertisement went live, the trading volume of Novig soared by nearly 94%, and the number of users making their first deposits increased by over 218%.
He also said that the number of active users in September increased by 96% month-on-month and 260% year-on-year, and the number of app downloads increased by more than 187%. Fortinsky indicates that he did not anticipate that this advertisement, as well as the official start of the NFL season, would bring such a large volume of transactions and so many new users.
"Just Sports" ad sparks controversy
These data are also accompanied by controversy. The way Sweeney conveys platform information has drawn criticism from some female athletes, who believe that this advertisement undermines the progress in people's perception of women's sports.
Fortinsky indicates that the purpose of this advertisement is not to represent female athletes, but rather to focus more on the services provided by Novig. He added that he respects all the opinions that have arisen regarding this advertisement and emphasized that he and the Novig team are supporters of women's sports.
Fortinsky said, "In the end, I don't think there's anything we need to apologize for; we are very proud of the work we've done." He also added, "We are indeed very pleased... that this event has received such a positive response overall."
The Sydney Sweeney advertisements are not the first time this platform has made headlines in the news. Shortly after the launch of Novig, the company filed lawsuits against several states, claiming that these states had no authority to regulate its sports event contracts. In addition, Novig only allows users who are 21 years of age or older to use its platform, although this may result in revenue losses due to the restricted user base. Kalshi and Polymarket U.S. allow users over 18 years of age to use their services.
Fortinsky says that these business decisions are related to the company's culture of being willing to take risks in a rapidly changing industry.
He said, "We must be willing to take on greater risks relative to the size of the company, and of course, this must be done in a responsible manner." He also stated, "I believe we will continue to embody this aggressive culture of risk-taking."
The Wall Street Journal reported that the company is raising funds with a valuation of $2 billion. In February this year, Forbes reported that Novig completed a $75 million Series B financing round, at which time the company was valued at $500 million. Novig has not commented on how much capital will be raised in this new financing round, nor has it disclosed who the investors participating in the investment are.
Disclosure:CNBC has a business relationship with Kalshi, which includes customer acquisition and a small amount of equity investment.
