Live streaming platform Kick recently reached a significant milestone, surpassing 10 million user accounts. Kick achieved the landmark just months after Stake.com founders, Ed Craven, and Bijan Tehrani, officially launched the service in December 2022. After getting much buzz thanks to streamer Trainwreckstv, the platform has gained significant popularity among high-profile streamers, positioning itself as a formidable competitor to Amazon’s Twitch.
Kick recently made waves in the streaming industry when popular Twitch streamer xQc signed a groundbreaking deal with the platform. The deal, reportedly worth nine figures, solidifies xQc’s move to Kick and further strengthens the platform’s position as a formidable rival to Twitch. This partnership also highlights Kick’s association with Stake.com, a well-known crypto casino and gambling website in which xQc partners.
This article delves into the exponential growth of Kick, its appeal to streamers, and its potential impact on the streaming industry.
Kick’s rapid ascent
Kick’s swift rise in the streaming industry can be attributed to its strategic emphasis on creator-centric policies, particularly its innovative and attractive financial offerings for streamers. The platform has boldly deviated from the industry standard by introducing a compelling 95/5 revenue split, starkly contrasting Twitch’s conventional 50/50 split.
Massive deals with top-tier streamers like Félix’ xQc’ Lengyel and Kaitlyn’ Amouranth’ Siragusa have been instrumental in attracting high-profile talent away from the Amazon-owned platform. Moreover, increasing dissatisfaction with Twitch’s vague bans and less-than-optimal pay structure has also led to a migration of streamers to Kick. Other notable names that have taken their audiences to the emerging platform include the following:
- Hikaru’ GMHikaru’ Nakamura: The acclaimed chess grandmaster turned streamer officially joined Kick in March 2023.
- Adin Ross: After receiving a permanent ban on Twitch, the controversial, albeit wildly popular lifestyle-and-gaming streamer took his talents to Kick. He has since announced that he’s now a co-owner of the emerging streaming platform.
- Tyler Niknam: Niknam turned the world onto the possibilities brought by Kick. He was an outspoken advocate of the startup platform before taking his following and controversial personality to Kick while also serving an advisory role.
- Kaitlyn’ Amouranth’ Siragusa: The streamer known for her hot tub and cosplay streams moved to Kick days after the xQc deal was announced.
- Ishmael ‘Roshtein’ Swartz: The popular former Twitch streamer made hay streaming online slot games. Since moving to Kick, he has consistently been one of the top streamers, even streaming with music icon Drake.
- Ice Poseidon: Renowned as the pioneer life streamer of IRL and Old School RuneScape fame, Paul Denino moved to Kick after spending time with Twitch, YouTube, and Mixer.
- Corinna Kopf: The OnlyFans model made waves in February 2023 after announcing her non-exclusive deal with Kick.
- Aaron ‘Ac7ionman’ Travis: Despite having 700,000 followers on Twitch, Ac7ionman also moved to Twitch in February 2023, immediately posting about the financial advantages of joining the upstart platform.
The migration of these renowned personalities has triggered a domino effect, with a large number of fans and viewers demonstrating their loyalty by following their favorite streamers to Kick. This trend has contributed to a significant surge in the platform’s user base, which recently surpassed the 10-million-user mark. This milestone represents Kick’s growing popularity and the substantial influence these streamers wield in attracting audiences and shaping the platform’s community.
Controversy and competition: Navigating the streaming battlefield
Kick’s strategic challenge to Twitch’s dominance, especially its aggressive pursuit of top-tier talent, has ignited debates within the streaming community. Some argue that it’s a healthy form of competition that spurs industry innovation and improved terms for creators. However, others wonder about the sustainability of such a generous revenue split and express concerns over Stake’s potential influence on the platform.
Other controversies Kick has had to navigate in its nascent stages include the following:
- The association with Stake: Critics argue that this relationship raises ethical concerns about promoting gambling through a platform frequented by a young and impressionable audience. While Kick prohibits streamers from gambling with users, it allows for streaming gambling games, provided users comply with local laws and regulatory frameworks.
- Sustainability: Questions about Kick’s sustainability have persisted since Niknam boasted of the platform’s financial advantages over Twitch. And with millions of dollars being handed out to the likes of xQc, these murmurings will remain in the foreseeable future. Craven has said that as a startup, Kick is prepared to operate at a loss.
- Lax content moderation: Kick’s comparatively loose moderation policies have been a draw for many creators seeking a platform with greater creative freedom. However, this has also raised concerns about potentially harmful or inappropriate content slipping through the cracks. In early 2023, Ross pulled the homepage of an adult site during one of his streams. He has also used language that would’ve gotten him banned on Twitch.
In an interview with Streams Charts, Craven said Kick primarily guards against two areas: pornography and hate speech. However, the Kick cofounder and Stake owner clarified that they also look at intent, speaking with creators who potentially violated these terms to see if they missed a joke or trend referenced in a stream. Erring content creators have lauded this more human approach compared to the ambiguous bans that Twitch resorted to.
While Kick hasn’t penalized its top streamers, the platform’s representative said they are communicating with them to make the necessary adjustments. Meanwhile, in response to a tweet criticizing the platform’s failure to ban streamers broadcasting slurs automatically, Craven promised that Kick will roll out advanced moderation tools ‘soon.’
Kick’s strategy in navigating these controversies will be critical in its long-term viability and credibility as a streaming platform. How it balances the need for growth, profitability, and user satisfaction while addressing valid concerns raised by critics will be crucial to its future success in the highly competitive streaming industry.
Kick advantages: Setting a new standard
Kick’s competitive edge in the streaming industry goes beyond its financial incentives. While the 95/5 revenue split already marks a significant improvement from Twitch’s 50/50 model and YouTube Live’s 70/30 split, the platform offers a range of additional benefits for streamers:
- Non-exclusive contracts: This gives streamers the flexibility to broadcast on multiple platforms, enabling them to reach a wider audience and diversify their income sources. In addition, streamers get to keep 100% of the tips they receive.
- Relaxed moderation policies: Kick’s comparatively less stringent moderation policies have been a major draw for many streamers. These policies grant creators greater autonomy over their content, allowing for more creative freedom and innovation. This has also resulted in streamers having a better working relationship with Kick.
- Customizable partnerships: Kick offers a range of partnership options, with various tiers designed to cater to the unique needs of different streamers. From creators just starting in the field to established streamers like xQc, Kick’s partnership models offer a blend of financial benefits, promotional opportunities, and creative control.
- Streamlabs integration: Kick’s partnership with Streamlabs, a popular streaming software, makes it easier for creators to produce and broadcast high-quality content. This integration simplifies the streaming process, allowing creators to focus on engaging with their audience and creating memorable content.
By providing these benefits, Kick is cultivating an environment that values and invests in its content creators while exploring new ways to incentivize and empower its streamers. Thus far, the strategy appears to be working with Kick hosting an average of 110,000 live streams per day as of June 2023. While it’s still a far cry from the 7.22 million monthly broadcasters and 2.36 million average viewers of Twitch, Kick’s disruption of the industry is undeniable.
Capitalizing on growing frustrations with Twitch
In addition to the financial incentives, Kick has leveraged growing frustrations within the Twitch ecosystem to build their burgeoning community. From revised pay structures and arbitrary bans to new policies that affect creators’ revenue streams, Twitch has made a string of decisions that have caught the ire of its community members.
Here are some of the issues Twitch is currently facing:
- Previously, Twitch offered select partners a premium 70/30 split before later announcing that they would do away with the pay structure in lieu of pushing ads. Meanwhile, those who already have the 70/30 deal in place would only enjoy the higher revenue split for the first USD$100,000, with the succeeding revenue subject to the 50/50 split. Moreover, Twitch’s Partner Plus tier entailed unrealistic qualifying metrics that only 2.5% of streamers meet (according to Streams Charts).
- In late 2022, Twitch tightened the screws on its gambling policy, prohibiting the streaming of slots, roulette, dice, and other casino games not licensed in the US. The policy changes also meant that crypto betting sites like Stake were banned from Twitch. This policy update was a big blow to streamers like Niknam, who credits a significant portion of his revenue to such streams.
- Additionally, Twitch increasingly levied bans, which content creators deemed ambiguous. Ross, for one, claimed that the platform permanently banned him for ‘no reason.’ Similarly, Niknam claimed Twitch targeted him because of his deal with Stake. Both streamers have since pushed the limits of their newfound freedom on Kick.
- In June 2023, Twitch released more stringent branded content guidelines. While sponsored streams are still allowed, the new policies prohibit inserting display, video, and audio ads directly into streams. Essentially, this leaves creators with a simple logo to promote the sponsor (which can’t exceed 3% of the screen size). In response, top streamers like Asmongold have encouraged others to consider boycotting Twitch.
So far, Kick has delivered on its promise of giving content creators a longer leash. And as Twitch continues to test the limits of its relationship with content creators by rolling out unfavorable policies, Kick has abundant opportunities to lure streamers to their side of the fence.
The future of Kick: An intricate balancing act
Despite its early success, questions persist about Kick’s long-term viability and ability to continue competing with Twitch. While its achievement of 10 million user accounts certainly signals a growing interest from both viewers and creators, Kick still faces a substantial gap to catch up to Twitch’s scale and its massive 140 million users.
Moreover, the challenges facing Kick extend beyond competing with numbers. It will always find itself at the heart of controversies and moral debates due to its vague relationship with Stake. These controversies cast a spotlight on several key challenges:
- Maintaining trust: Kick must ensure its association with Stake doesn’t compromise on ethical concerns. This might involve introducing measures to safeguard its platform from gambling activities or implementing strict guidelines to promote responsible usage.
- Delivering on promises: While Twitch has lured big-named streamers with life-altering deals, the majority of the community depends on the promises made by the platform. In January, Niknam alluded to a creator program paying streamers by the hour based on Kick’s ad revenue and their average viewership and engagement. As of this writing, Kick has yet to roll out this pay program.
- Upholding safety and reliability: With the influx of users, Kick needs to assure its user base that its platform is safe and reliable. This entails strengthening its moderation policies and implementing robust measures to protect user data and privacy.
- Appealing to a broad audience: Kick must appeal to a wider audience to continue its growth trajectory. This involves offering diverse content, maintaining a user-friendly interface, and implementing features that enhance user engagement and satisfaction. Getting GMHikaru onboard has helped in this regard, attracting chess enthusiasts onto the platform.
Successfully navigating these challenges will be critical to Kick’s long-term sustainability. The platform must demonstrate that it can sustain its business model while maintaining its appeal to both streamers and viewers.
Final words
While it’s too early to predict whether Kick will ultimately eclipse Twitch, what’s clear is that Kick’s growth has added another exciting chapter to the ever-evolving narrative of the streaming industry. With a user-centric approach and innovative policies, the platform has successfully positioned itself as a compelling alternative to Twitch. It will be interesting to see how Kick continues to develop, adapt, and respond to industry trends and how its strategies will shape the future of the streaming industry.
