Polymarket tops prediction market rivals in the App Store after LeBron James ad and celeb rollout

Polymarket’s Labor Day Weekend push with LeBron James did more than generate views: it helped drive the app to the top of the App Store and bundled product launch, celebrity marketing, and social trading into one move. For high-risk PSPs, the useful part is obvious: when a platform can turn mainstream sports attention into download momentum, it changes the commercial conversation around distribution, acquisition costs, and partner appetite.

1. James, who moved from DraftKings to Polymarket, teased the partnership on X last Saturday with a brief video, then Polymarket followed on Tuesday with a splashy ad that got more than 15.5 million views on his X page.
2. The 90-second spot launched after the Labor Day Weekend holiday and was directed by Peter Berg, the filmmaker behind Friday Night Lights. It featured Eli Manning, Derek Jeter, Richard Sherman, John Leguizamo and Spike Lee, among other celebrities.
3. The ad coincided with the launch of Squads, a new social experience in the US Polymarket app. According to Polymarket’s news release, it gives users a dedicated place to talk markets, share picks and trade together directly on Polymarket.
4. Travis VanderZanden, Polymarket’s chief growth officer, framed Squads as a way to bring “the conversation and trading together” so friends can follow events they care about and make predictions in one place.
5. The campaign was enough to vault Polymarket to the top of the App Store, but the company did not disclose the total cost of the ad. The rollout also drew backlash from some PG advocates, making the promotional win and the reputational friction part of the same story.

There is also a narrower commercial detail worth noting for operators watching adjacent partnerships: last month, the Yankees became the first Major League Baseball club to directly partner with Polymarket. That gives the platform a clearer sports-marketing footprint, which matters when a product’s growth depends on attention, trust, and a steady flow of user acquisition through recognizable names.