What is Kick and is it a competitor to Twitch?

Kick is new to the world of live streaming. But what exactly is Kick and how does it compare to the reigning king, Amazon’s Twitch?

Kick vs Twitch

Kick was founded in December 2022 and is a competitor of Twitch as the platform offers similar functions, although it is still a beta. The live streams are based on personal interests or favorite streamers.

Visually and functionally, the two services are very similar. You can see this in the menus, color schemes, browsing through categories and chat functions. As a diehard Twitch user, you’ll have no trouble switching to Kick if your favorite streamer does. Kick does focus on streamers, and applies more flexible moderation rules and a better income distribution. You can read more about that later on.

Rules and NSFW

The rules regarding the content are less strict than with Twitch. For example, on Kick you will find more gambling streamers and there is even a category called ‘Polish, Hot Tubs & Bikinis’, similar to a milder version of OnlyFans. Twitch has banned most gambling streams featuring slots, roulette, and dice games by 2022. Far-right groups have also tried to abuse Kick, but Kick is now trying to put an end to this by rapidly expanding its moderation team. The platform aims to employ around 200 people by the end of 2023. So parents should pay close attention to what their children watch on this platform.

Kick’s moderation procedure is therefore still quite flexible for now. That means there may be some sexual content on the platform. However, the community guidelines are generally the same: Violence, fraud, drugs, discrimination and copyright infringement can lead to sanctions. At Twitch, some streamers complain about the strict policy regarding NSFW content, such as nudity. Some streamers feel their content has been unfairly flagged and removed from Twitch.

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How do you make money on Kick?

You can earn money on Kick by participating in their affiliate program. For this you need 75 followers and 5 hours of total streaming time. Twitch has stricter rules for this. To become a Twitch affiliate, you must have streamed at least 500 minutes (that’s more than 8 hours) in the last 30 days.

Kick streamers receive 95% of the revenue, which is much more attractive than Twitch’s 50% or even YouTube’s 70%. In addition, Kick offers streamers 100% of tips (kicks) and payouts are made the same day.

How many users does Kick have?

Kick is still a young platform and therefore does not have as many users as Twitch. The counter stood at more than 1 million active users in March 2023. Twitch has been around since 2011 and can count on more than 21.5 million visitors per day worldwide.

So Kick has far fewer viewers than Twitch, but the streaming platform has managed to attract well-known streamers such as Hikaru Nakamura and Kaitlyn ‘Amouranth’ Siragusa. It remains to be seen whether their large fan bases will lead to a larger viewership, which Kick will certainly need to generate sufficient revenue.

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Whose is Kick?

It is said that the online casino Stake.com owns Kick, but that has not been proven. According to this thread on Twitter, there seem to be strong ties between Stake and Kick. There are indications that Ed Craven, the owner of Stake, plays an influential role in the running of Kick. At the time, Tyler ‘Trainwreck’ Niknam, one of the most famous gambling streamers, also announced that he would be switching to Kick. He had previously closed a multi-million dollar deal with Stake.com.

Kick sent The Washington Post an email denying that Stake owns or invests. But this doesn’t necessarily mean Craven isn’t involved.

Where can you download Kick?

You can watch Kick live streams in a browser, on smartphones and tablets.

What do you think of the Kick and Twitch? What are your experiences with these live streaming platforms. Let us know in the comments below! We’d love to hear what you have to say.

Sources: 1, 2