Sydney Sweeney found a new way to break the internet: sitting on top of a basketball hoop wearing nothing at all.
The Euphoria star dropped a new ad on September 9 for Novig, a sports prediction market app that launched in 2021 and pitches itself as a fairer, more transparent alternative to the big sportsbooks.
In the spot, the 28-year-old holds two footballs where a jersey would normally go, models sports gear either topless or fully nude, and perches naked on the rim of a hoop while spinning a basketball on one finger.
At one point she wears full football pads with only a football covering her bottom half.
“just sports,” Sweeney captioned the video, tagging Novig.
The internet took it from there.
As of September 10, Novig’s post on X is sitting at 7.7 million views, and Sweeney’s Instagram version has piled up more than 863,000 likes. The story has already crossed over into the mainstream press, with USA TODAY writing it up.
276% More Views Than LeBron James
Here’s the part that has marketing people talking.
Polymarket recently rolled out its own celebrity ad campaign featuring LeBron James, Alexandra Daddario, Emily Ratajkowski, and more.
One X user ran the numbers and found Sweeney’s solo Novig spot did roughly 276% more views than Polymarket’s star-stacked ad.
“marketing lesson right there,” he wrote.
Sweeney, by herself, outdrew LeBron James.
‘No Betting On Wars Or Deaths And No Politics’
The ad has a script, and it’s throwing an elbow.
“Think you know sports? Prove it,” Sweeney says in the spot, set to Anderson .Paak’s “Come Down.” “Novig is just sports. So they wanted to show just sports.”
Then the kicker.
“No betting on wars or deaths and no politics,” Sweeney says. “Just you, your takes and sports.”
That line is aimed straight at prediction market rivals like Polymarket, where users can trade on elections, wars, and world events.
Which makes beating Polymarket’s own celebrity ad by 276% even funnier.
‘Sydney Sweeney Knows Ball’ Vs. ‘Society Is Crumbling’
Novig captioned its post on X: “Confirmed: Sydney Sweeney knows ball.”
Plenty of fans agreed. “Marketing team had 1 job, and they did it f***ing flawlessly,” wrote one Instagram commenter.
Another asked, “Why is this ad running for 4 hours straight?” Over on X: “@Novig knew the assignment.”
The other side showed up just as fast.
“Selling gambling by selling sex. Society is crumbling before our eyes,” one X user wrote.
An Instagram comment with more than 4,300 likes reads: “This is sad at this point. Can’t sell or be a normal girl if she doesn’t use her body as a tool. Sexualizing sports like this is crazy.”
Another, with over 5,400 likes: “Selling your soul to the gambling companies is very on brand Sydney.”
And one fan admitted: “Big fan of Syd. That said, I can’t help feeling like an old man when I think about how tacky this ad is.”
“Not to mention the fact that a lot of young people – yes, minors – love sports and will see this ad,” the fan continued.
Sweeney Owns A Piece Of Novig
This isn’t a one-off paycheck.
Novig cofounder and CEO Jacob Fortinsky said on LinkedIn that Sweeney first came in as an investor with an interest in prediction markets.
In an interview with Complex, the actress confirmed she’s an equity partner and works on the creative side.
“I’ve been a part of the creative conversations from the very beginning,” she said, calling the ad “a very simple and playful idea” meant to bring “the concept of ‘just sports’ to life.”
Sweeney grew up on soccer, softball, snow skiing, and MMA, and said she wants to “get into the weeds of it with an amazing team.”
“I don’t like to just put my face on something,” she added. “Being able to be a part of watching this company grow and not just be the face of it is really important to me.”
It’s the same playbook she’s running with her SYRN lingerie brand: own the company, then break the internet promoting it.
As for the numbers, this is just what Sweeney posts do now.
Her Wonder Woman costume post hit 1.2 million likes in nine hours in August, and her SYRN video pulled nearly 300,000 likes in under an hour in July.
The Novig ad is running on the same engine. This time she just left the wardrobe at home.
