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Kick streaming: What is it and how does it work?

Learn all about the Kick streaming platform, what it does, and if you can earn money on it.

Alec Chillingworth

• 7 min read
Kick streaming

The Kick streaming platform launched in early 2023. But what is it, who owns it, how do you get the app, and how do payouts work? Let’s figure it all out today.

We'll cover:

What is Kick streaming?

Kick is a streaming platform which, at its core, presents a similar offering to Twitch, YouTube Live, Facebook Live, and so on. Viewers can subscribe to a creator’s channel, send tips, and participate in HD-quality live streams. It’s currently in beta mode.

What makes Kick different from Twitch?

The key difference between Kick and Twitch is that Kick calls itself a ‘creator-friendly’ streaming platform. This means it takes a smaller amount of money from creators, is more relaxed regarding explicit content, and tries to make its guidelines as transparent as possible. In other words, Kick positions itself as the platform pushing fair terms for streamers.

At a glance, though, Kick looks like Twitch being used in The Matrix: the homepage is remarkably similar, just green and black instead of white and purple. Dig a little deeper, though, and the Kick vs. Twitch debate becomes more nuanced.

Streaming Minecraft on Kick

What can you stream on Kick?

Just like Twitch, Kick features a bunch of categories you can browse and stream. They include:

  • Games: Everything from single-player story narratives to Esports tournaments
  • IRL: Everyday content, ranging from pools and ASMR to travel & outdoors
  • Music: DJ sets, acoustic streams, dance classes, and more
  • Gambling: A strictly 18+ section, which we’ll discuss later
  • Creative: Covers a broad range of creative skills, including drawing, programming, arts & crafts, and more
  • Alternative: For content like watch parties, ‘just sleeping’ – Google it – and other categories that don’t fit anywhere else

How many users are on Kick?

Kick is still a baby, and as such, it doesn’t have the users to compete with Twitch. Still, as of September 2023, Kick had more than 20 million users. Pretty impressive for a new platform!

How much does Kick pay streamers?

Kick streaming payouts are one of the platform’s more notable perks – streamers receive 95% of subscription earnings. This is more than Twitch’s 50/50 split, and it even beats YouTube’s generous 70/30 cut.

Streamers also keep 100% of any tips (called ‘kicks’) sent by viewers, with no commission or transfer fee being gobbled up by Kick.

Streaming on Kick

How do you make money on Kick?

To join Kick’s Affiliate program, you need 75 followers and 5 total streamed hours. On the other hand, Twitch requires a slightly higher threshold for monetization. To become a Twitch Affiliate, for example, you need to have streamed at least 500 minutes – more than 8 hours – in the past 30 days.

Once you've become a Kick Affiliate, you can start charging people for subscriptions to your channel. The average cost of a Kick subscription is around $4.99 per month, so if you've got 1,000 subscribing followers, you're looking at roughly $4,750 once Kick take their slice of the pie.

Kick also offers a Creator Incentive Program, during which streamers are paid an hourly rate for their streams at a 95/5 split with the platform. The barrier to entry is the same as the Affiliate program, but acceptance isn’t guaranteed. To learn more about the Kick Creator Incentive Program, click here.

Is there advertising on Kick?

Aside from banner ads, there are no advertising opportunities available on Kick. We’re sure that in-video ad opportunities will come as the platform grows. Meanwhile, Twitch has a robust, established advertising model.

Is Kick exclusive?

Kick allows creators to multi-stream across their channels on other platforms. Twitch often signs exclusivity deals with high-earning streamers – that way, viewers have to come to Twitch to view that particular creator’s stream.

Gaming on Kick

However, in June 2023, Twitch introduced a $25 dollar termination fee for Affiliates. Smelling an opportunity, Kick offered to cover this fee, as long as the Affiliate then joined Kick instead. So, not quite exclusive, but positioning itself as an alternative.

Does Kick streaming allow NSFW content?

Kick’s moderation process is fairly lenient, meaning that some sexually themed content may appear on the platform. The community guidelines are broadly the same, though: violence, fraud, drugs, discrimination, and copyright infringement can lead to sanctions against your content and account. If you don't want to see not-safe-for-work content, you can activate a toggle that blocks it.

One of the biggest problems users note with Twitch is its strict policy against certain NSFW content, such as nudity. Some streamers have had their content incorrectly flagged and removed from Twitch, despite featuring none of the ‘banned’ themes.

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When did Kick come out?

Kick streaming was established in October 2022, but officially launched in January 2023. Some people speculate that the quick push to market was down to Twitch banning unregulated gambling in October 2022. Which brings us onto…

Who owns Kick?

The Kick streaming platform’s public face is Tyler ‘Trainwreck’ Niknam, a high-stakes online gambler who made his name on Twitch. Despite being massive on Twitch, Trainwreck left the platform in late 2022 because of the gambling ban.

Is Kick funded by gambling?

Kick has been accused of being ‘funded by gambling.’ This is because one of Kick’s main investors and co-founder, Ed Craven, is also co-founder of a crypto-gambling website called Stake. Stake have sponsored Trainwreck in the past, and Kick’s personnel have also described Stake as a ‘sister company.’

Given the Stake connection and the massive ‘Gambling’ section displayed on Kick’s ‘Browse’ page, you can understand why that conclusion’s been made.

How do you download the Kick streaming app?

You can download the Kick app for your Apple and Google devices, or just head to Kick.com to use in your web browser.

Streaming Kick on mobile

Is Kick streaming on the Google Play Store?

Yep, the Kick streaming app is available for Android devices. Download it for free from the Google Play Store here.

Is Kick streaming on the App Store?

The Kick streaming mobile app is also available for Apple devices. Grab it for free from the App Store here.

The Kick app lets you watch livestreams, enter the chat, subscribe to creators’ channels, send donations, and more. However, at the moment, it doesn’t let you broadcast live streams – you have to do that on the browser version.

How to go live on Kick

So, now you know all about Kick’s streaming terms, payouts, and more. But how do you go live on Kick? The process is pretty similar to going live on Twitch – follow the steps below:

  1. Head to Kick.com and log in. If you don’t have an account, you can create one in the top right corner.
  2. Click the ‘Settings’ tab in the Creator Dashboard, then head to ‘Stream Key.’
  3. Scroll down until you see ‘Stream URL’ and ‘Stream Key.’
  4. Open your streaming software of choice, and enter your Stream URL and Stream Key when prompted.
  5. Ensure all the output settings match your computer’s, then head back to Kick.
  6. Click ‘Edit stream info’ in the bottom right. Name your new stream, categorize it, and decide on the primary language. You’ll also be able to decide if it’s an 18+ broadcast or not. Once you’ve done all this, hit ‘Save.’
  7. Start streaming via your streaming software!

So, there you have it: Kick in a nutshell. We’re excited to see how the platform grows – who knows if it’ll give Twitch a run for its money?

Playing games on Kick

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