Kick.com is a fairly new streaming platform that is slowly becoming Twitch’s fiercest rival. So far, many streamers switch the popular broadcasting site for this new and ambitious one. All of that is thanks to the many benefits that Kick provides to content creators.
It is constantly growing in both streamers and viewers and as things stand, this practice will continue in the coming months. In this article, we explain everything that you need to know about Kick.com.
Who Founded Kick?
First of all, Kick is a registered entity that goes under its legal name Kick Streaming Pty Ltd in Australia. One of the co-founders and major investors in this company is Ed Craven. He is a streamer himself but also the co-founder of Stake.com, one of the biggest crypto casinos in the iGaming industry.
Craven owns a third of Kick through his company Ashwood Holdings Pty Ltd. This means that on paper, Stake does not own the streaming platform. But, it is assumed Craven can somehow influence Kick’s operations.
It is worth noting that the popular streamer Trainwreckstv has also played an important role in its establishment. He is doing excellent work in promoting and bringing the platform together and has already attracted a bunch of former streamer colleagues from Twitch.
For some time, many people believed that he was actually the owner of Kick. But, Trainwreck dismissed these rumours by adding that he is only an advisor and streamer at the new live broadcasting platform.
When Was It Founded and Why?
The live broadcasting site began its journey in October 2022. But, it wasn’t until January 2023 that the platform went fully operational. Since then, it quickly acquired some of the best streamers in the world. Expert analyses have shown that most streamers have similar viewer numbers on Kick compared to their performance on Twitch.
Kick’s creation has to do with Twitch’s new gambling guidelines, which were set in mid-October 2022. These guidelines restricted all gambling-related activities on the platform. Many streamers, including some popular ones like Adin Ross, received bans from Twitch for violating these new rules.
As a result, Kick welcomes all streamers that wish to broadcast gambling content on its platform. This has something to do with its relations with Stake. But, the content creators aren’t obligated to stream gambling activities only on this platform. Since the spring of 2023 Kick managed to attract more and more IRL streamers such as Twitch’s A7ionMan and many others.
Immediately after the ban, Twitch lost 20% in viewership. Many of them switched to Kick.com after it began its streaming operations. Kick.com could not have hoped for a better start.
What’s Special About the Platform?
There are several special features that you should know about Kick. The first one is the platform’s tolerant stance towards gambling streams. It involves the allowance of gambling streams and the promotion of online casinos on the platform.
As the online gambling industry is increasing in popularity, more and more streamers began to broadcast about it. This is a win-win situation, as both the streamers and the platform are capitalizing on the situation.
Some popular content creators receive sponsorship endorsements from online casinos and software providers. With the new gambling guidelines on Twitch, all of this isn’t possible anymore.
Another special feature is the freedom that the content creators get while streaming on Kick. If you are a streaming fan, then you’ve surely noticed some ridiculous bans given by Twitch. The new streaming platform is way more liberal when it comes to content creation.
It is also worth noting that they are pretty funny on Twitter, which brings a lot of positive vibes to the platform. They are doing their best in replying to some of the tweets with style. You can catch them posting some hilarious memes, many of which got nothing to do with Kick or streaming whatsoever.
The administrators of Kick’s Twitter account are joking around with streamers on a regular basis. Very often they go and tease Twitch on different topics, most often about their revenue split. They are even posting memes about Elon Musk, now the owner of Twitter.
In December 2022, Drake was streaming a Christmas giveaway, gaining 40,000 viewers. This was a massive number given the fact that the platform was two months old. You should also know that only 24 hours after Kick’s launch, 200,000 users registered an account. That number went to 1 million in just 69 days.
Last but not least, you should know that Kick is sponsoring the Alfa Romeo F1 team since January 2023. You can see its logo on the bodywork of the Alfa Romeo F1 Team’s C43 at specific races. In the future, we can see Kick sponsoring some other major sports, just like Stake, Craven’s other co-owned company. The crypto casino is currently sponsoring the UFC, several fighters like Israel Adesanya, football clubs such as Everton and Watford, and several others.
Better compensation for creators
Next up, we have one of the most important features, which is the revenue split. In case you don’t know, this is the amount a streamer gets from the subscriptions on the platform. On Twitch, the revenue split is set at 50/50.
This means that, if you generate $100 from ads on the platform, then you will only get $50. The other half will go to Twitch.
Now, Kick is offering the streamers a 95/5 revenue split on their subscriptions. As you can see, on this new streaming platform, you can earn 95% of all the money that you generate. Kick also allows you to choose whether you want to get your money in crypto or through Stripe.
Who already Moved to the Platform?
Kick’s amazing revenue split and content creation freedom attracted the attention of many streamers. The most interested ones were the ones that received bans on Twitch.
Earlier we mentioned Trainwreckstv, who was the first one to join Kick after the new regulations on Twitch. He made this switch as he had a very lucrative sponsorship deal with Stake for streaming crypto gambling.
Trainwreckstv is one of the biggest streamers on the platform where he broadcasts regularly. At the moment, he has over 147,000 followers. Apart from online gambling, Trainwreckstv recently streamed about Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
Next up, we have Adin Ross, who is another popular streamer to join Kick. He received a permanent ban from Twitch in February 2023 before making the switch.
Just like Trainwreckstv, Ross too streams about online gambling, among many other things. Currently, Ross features around 300,000 followers on Kick.
Roshtein is yet another online gambling streamer that left Twitch for Kick. He was among the first ones to create such content on the popular broadcasting platform.
With nearly 100,000 followers on Kick, he is a long way from the 1.1 million followers on Twitch. But, he is slowly gaining numbers as the new platform increases in popularity.
Another Kick streamer that received a ban from Twitch is Mellstroy. He is a very popular Russian content creator, who became famous for his eccentric lifestyle. You can catch him streaming online gambling activities, as well as some crazy home parties.
Last but not least, we have Ac7ioman, who saw many benefits from transferring to Kick. He isn’t as popular as Adin Ross and Trainwreckstv, but he is quickly gaining recognition. All of it has to do with his online gambling streams and explicit sexual content.
For several months, Kick’s representatives are on the lookout for new popular streamers to join their platform. Trainwreckstv and Adin Ross are constantly in touch with big names such as Kai Cenat, Asmongold, and xQc. But, so far, these streamers aren’t fully convinced of joining Kick.com.