It looks like Twitch, but it’s not really Twitch. The purple logo with the white bubble has been replaced by a neon green image with a big pixelated K. On the Kick streaming platform, launched in December 2022, the categories correspond to those of its competitor. However, to enter the streaming market, you have to stand out. So to attract new streamers as well as viewers [nos plus plates excuses pour tous ces anglicismes]the American platform is trying to stand out with a bit of aggressive marketing.
On Kick’s X account (formerly Twitter), recruitment is done live. For each streamer announcing that they have been banned from Twitch, the new platform is quick to send them a public message to encourage them to join them. But above all, to coax the audience, Kick has relied on very famous streamers like “Chowh1” who announced on May 15 the start of “a new adventure”. Like him, “FacK7uP” is also one of those streamers for whom the new platform has been a godsend. He was even offered a contract for three months. “Renewable,” he certifies.
Monetization, but not only
On the phone, the streamer “doesn’t want to speak Chinese to us”. “The remuneration is much more attractive on the Kick platform.” For migrating streamers, revenue sharing is indeed more advantageous on the new platform. Against a 50% split for the streamer and 50% for the platform on Twitch (far from the initial promise of 70-30), Kick offers a 95-5 balance to the advantage of the streamer. But it is good to ask ourselves whether this balance will be sustainable in the long term for the platform? Will it not have to recalculate its shares, as Twitch did previously?
However, monetization is not the only reason that pushed “FacK7uP” to leave Twitch, where he has streamed numerous video games since 2016. “Of course, there was monetization, but that’s not all.” On Twitch, the streamer describes “a feeling of insecurity”. “You can be sidelined or even banned for unjustified and unfair reasons.” An observation also shared by “Akaru”, a smaller streamer who specializes in all types of entertainment. “Fortnite, phone calls or even cooking”. Several months ago, after numerous misunderstandings about the rules of Twitch, “Akaru” embarked on the Kick adventure. However, it has great difficulty finding new subscribers, unlike Twitch. “To stay there, you already need your community. It’s definitely more suited to big streamers,” he regrets. Ultimately, “Akaru” will decide to return to its original platform, especially since its subscribers have not always approved of its choice. “They were pretty shy about online casino ownership.”
Lax moderation
Here, “Akaru” refers to the site Stake.com, a crypto online casino that is said to have many close ties to Kick, noted a previous Washington Post article.
In addition to its vague membership, the new platform has been singled out on several occasions for its somewhat too lax moderation. During the Super Bowl last February, American streamer Adin Ross, for example, broadcast the event live, omitting the broadcast rights… without being called to order by the platform. The same Adin Ross who during a live broadcast last February went to a pornographic site displaying several seconds of X-rated videos, tells the Dexerto website. However, the conditions of use of the site attest to this, it is nevertheless prohibited to make content available through the platform: “nudity or other sexually suggestive content”. But also “hate speech, threats or direct attacks against an individual or group, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, invasive of the privacy of others, hateful, racial, ethnic or otherwise objectionable content”.
However, Adin Ross’ account was not suspended. On the main page of the site, a “Pools, Hot Tubs & Bikini” category clearly appears and highlights content that is just as suggestive as each other. However, the category proves to be as popular as the streams around the famous Call of Duty game, with 50,000 subscribers for each category. Enough to suggest that Kick – who has not responded to questions to date – will not moderate any time soon.