Type of business | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Type of site | |
Area served | Worldwide |
Owners | Ashwood Holdings (50%) Bijan Tehrani (50%) |
Parent | Easygo Entertainment Pty Ltd |
URL | kick |
Commercial | Yes |
Registration | Optional |
Launched | October 18, 2022 |
Current status | Active |
Native client(s) on | iOS, Android, Web |
Kick (also known as Kick.com) is a video livestreaming service. It is operated by Kick Streaming Pty Ltd and backed by Stake.com co-founders Bijan Tehrani, Ed Craven, and streaming personality Trainwreckstv.[1] Kick was founded in 2022 as a competitor to Amazon-owned Twitch, with a focus on looser moderation and higher revenue shares for streamers.[2][3][4] Kick is mostly known for its low 5% revenue charge, as well as its 2023 deals with multiple streamers including Hikaru Nakamura, Vitaly Zdorovetskiy, Nickmercs, Adin Ross, Amouranth, Sam Pepper, Ice Poseidon, xQc.[5][2][6] and Ilyas El Maliki.
As of June 2023, Kick averages 235,000 livestreams per day.[5]
The Kick streaming platform had its inception in December 2022. To formalize its operations as a registered company in Australia, Kick Streaming Pty Ltd was established in November of the same year. The sole shareholder of Kick Streaming is Easygo Entertainment Pty Ltd.[7][8]
In a July 2023 interview, Craven said that "Kick is not currently profitable". Craven said the company tentatively plans to become profitable in one to three years through the use of advertising.[9]
Kick works to expand its policies against copyright infringement, hate speech, gambling content, harassment and sexual content, although its community guidelines does prohibit those behaviors, as well as doxing and violent conduct.[2][10] A representative of the website said in March 2023 that the platform was in the process of expanding its moderation efforts and that it did not tolerate hate speech or copyright violations.[2]
A New York Times article stated that some of the website's content creators have committed what appeared to be crimes, such as sexual assault and trespassing, while streaming.[11][12]
Kristin Gillespie, co-founder of the nonprofit Right to Unmute, criticized Kick in May 2024 for tolerating overly sexual and sometimes "predatory behavior" on the platform.[12] Kick streamer Hikaru Nakamura said that the platform was undergoing the same initial journey as other social media websites, including Twitch, which he said was "very much the Wild West" when it started. Nakamura further said that it usually takes time for such websites to adapt.[11]
Kick CEO Ed Craven stated in an interview that "people are realizing [that] the more controversial they are, the more shock factor involved in their content, the more viewers they get, and it can sometimes be a dangerous mix in that regard". He further said that Kick was in the process of adapting and deciding what type of content it should deem acceptable. In late 2023, Kick content creators Ice Poseidon and Sam Pepper were detained by Australian police after an incident involving a man they had met earlier that day. They attempted to film the man and a sex worker, both of whom had consented to be filmed, engaging in sexual activity in a hotel room. The situation escalated when the man initially prevented the sex worker from leaving. Following the incident, some streamers considered leaving the platform. In response to the incident and backlash, Kick updated its guidelines, adding a report button for rule-breaking content and introducing regulations on staff participation in "high-risk" livestreams.[11]
Kick was founded by gambling industry businessmen Bijan Tehrani and Ed Craven, who are also the founders of online casino website Stake.com.[13] Concordia University assistant professor Andrei Zanescu said that Kick's generous terms of service toward streamers, which only takes 5% of its creators' earnings instead of Twitch's 50%, can be explained by the influx of new users that Stake was receiving.[11]
In an interview with Forbes, Ed Craven and Tehrani say their emphasis remains on growth. “The goal when we entered Kick was not to make money,” Tehrani says. “Ultimately, we’re happy to personally invest huge amounts of money in this business because we believe in it.”[14]
Former Twitch director Marcus Graham criticized Kick for lack of transparency regarding its connections to gambling platforms and investors and to the limited information about its backers.[13][15]
Nick Kolcheff stated that part of his contract with Kick required him to do gambling content (although a representative of the organization denied that such requirement existed in his contract). Kolcheff stated that he intended to move out of the United States in order to record his gambling streams.[16]
Craven stated in 2023 that the website intended to decrease exposure to gambling content.[13] He also said that the platform had strong safety controls to block children from being exposed to gambling livestreams, as well as people who live in jurisdictions where gambling is outlawed.[11]
In January 2023, the Sauber Motorsport-run Alfa Romeo F1 Team signed a multi-year sponsorship deal with Kick. Kick replaced Stake (Alfa Romeo's title sponsor) in countries where gambling and sports betting advertisements are not allowed as "Alfa Romeo F1 Team Kick".[26][27]
Alfa Romeo raced a revised Kick livery called the "disruptive livery" at the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix.[28] Alfa Romeo left the sport after the end of the year, and Kick extended their relationship with Sauber Motorsport, renaming the team to "Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber."[29] The team will go as "Kick F1 Team" in countries with restrictions on promoting gambling, which was previously done with Alfa Romeo's title sponsorship.[30][31] Kick also secured the naming rights to Sauber's 2024 and 2025 chassis, with the 2024 car named as Kick Sauber C44.[32] Additionally, Sauber Esports announced a title partnership with Kick to form "Alfa Romeo F1 Team KICK Esports"[33] and entered the Formula One Sim Racing Championship as KICK F1 Sim Racing Team (although they would enter the first round as Alfa Romeo F1 Team KICK Esports before Alfa Romeo’s departure). The KICK F1 Sim Racing Team continues with Thomas Ronhaar and Brendon Leigh for the 2024-25 season, following a successful first season.[34]
In August 2023, Kick signed a multi-year sponsorship deal with Premier League club Everton as the club's official sleeve sponsor.[35]
According to Kick's terms of service, users need to be at least 13 years old (in the United States) or 16 years old (in the European Union) to create an account on the website. In order to be able to stream, users need to be at least 18 years old or be in the presence of their legal guardian.[36] According to Kick, streamers on the platform keep 95% of subscription revenue.[37][9]
To stream on Kick, users need to create an account and set up streaming software like OBS Studio or Streamlabs. After linking the Kick account to the software, users can customize their stream settings and go live.[38] Online gambling is heavily regulated in the United States and illegal in many states, although some users may attempt to bypass these restrictions using virtual private networks (VPNs) to mask their location. From December 2023, Kick has safeguards in place, such as requiring photo identification and VPN blocking, to prevent users from gambling if they are located in regions where it is prohibited.[39]
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