In this article
TL;DR
We showed Sydney Sweeney’s ad for Novig to 100 weekly sports bettors, 50 men and 50 women, in recorded video interviews.
72% of men rated the ad 4 or 5 out of 5. Only 41% of women did.
56% could name Novig afterward. More than 4 in 10 could not say who the ad was for.
People remembered Sweeney more than the message.
Social Studies is a Conveo series that runs studies on today’s trending topics. Novig is a sports prediction market app, and its first national campaign stars Sydney Sweeney, who is also a strategic partner and equity holder. The ad launched in September and set off a loud debate online. We asked the people it targets, regular sports bettors, how they react to it.
How we ran the study
Conveo ran recorded video interviews with 100 weekly sports bettors: 50 men and 50 women. Conveo’s AI research assistant moderated every interview, and it took under 24 hours to go from launch to results.
Inside each interview, participants:
watched the ad on camera while Conveo tracked their emotional reactions
rated the ad on a scale from 1 to 5
said whether they would download the app
told us which brand the ad was for
Participants were recruited as weekly sports bettors for this study. They are not Novig customers.
1. Men and women saw two different ads
The emotion tracking spiked 14 seconds into the ad. Happiness and disgust peaked on the same frame: some participants grinned while others looked disgusted.
72% of men rated the ad 4 or 5 out of 5. Only 41% of women did. The gap carried over to intent: 48% of men said they would download the app, against 20% of women.
“It was memorable. It was funny. It was enjoyable.”
Male participant
Most women did not rate the ad well, and some put it far more bluntly.
“The entire premise was dehumanizing to women and had nothing to do with sports whatsoever.”
Female participant
2. The ad gets attention, but the brand does not get the credit
The ad got everyone’s attention. Fewer people caught who paid for it: 56% could name Novig afterward, and more than 4 in 10 could not say who the ad was for.
3. People remember her, not the message
What stuck was Sydney Sweeney. One participant said they were “too distracted by her to catch what was being sold.” The claim the ad is built around, that Novig is just sports, came through less clearly than the person delivering it.
“The main portrayal made me feel angry and honestly disgusted.”
Participant
What this means
Novig bought attention. Whether it bought brand affinity is less clear: the ad won most of the men, lost most of the women, and more than 4 in 10 viewers never caught the brand.
Run your own social study
In Conveo, every finding in this study links back to the recorded interviews behind it. Run the same kind of study on the stories, campaigns and products your audience is talking about.
