Kick (also known as Kick.com) is a video

livestreaming Livestreaming, live-streaming, or live streaming is the streaming of video or audio in real time or near real time. While often referred to simply as ''streaming'', the real-time nature of livestreaming differentiates it from other non- liv ...

service. It is operated by Kick Streaming Pty Ltd and backed by Stake.com co-founders Bijan Tehrani, Ed Craven, and streaming personality Trainwreckstv. Kick was founded in 2022 as a competitor to

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

-owned

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle c ...

, with a focus on looser moderation and higher revenue shares for streamers. Kick is mostly known for its low 5% revenue charge, as well as its 2023 deals with multiple streamers including

Hikaru Nakamura Christopher Hikaru NakamuraWestcol,

Vitaly Zdorovetskiy Vitaly Zdorovetskiy ( ; rus, Вита́лий Здорове́цкий, p=vʲɪˈtalʲɪj zdərɐˈvʲetskʲɪj, links=no; born March 8, 1992), better known by his YouTube username VitalyzdTv, is a Russian-born YouTuber and internet Content cr ...

, Nickmercs,

Adin Ross Adin David Ross (born October 11, 2000) is an American Influencer, internet personality and online streamer. He is known for his collaborations with celebrities and livestreams of the ''NBA 2K'' and ''Grand Theft Auto V'' video games. He pre ...

, Amouranth, Ice Poseidon, and xQc. As of June 2023, Kick averages 110,000 livestreams per day. Kick is also the sponsor of the

Sauber Motorsport Sauber Motorsport AG, currently competing in Formula One as Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber, and also known simply as Kick Sauber or Sauber, is a Swiss motorsport engineering company. It was founded in 1970 (as PP Sauber AG) by Peter Sauber, who pr ...

racing team in

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

Corporate structure

The Kick streaming platform had its inception in December 2022. To formalize its operations as a registered company in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, Kick Streaming Pty Ltd was established on the 14th of November of the same year. The sole shareholder of Kick Streaming is Easygo Entertainment Pty Ltd. In a July 2023 interview, Craven said Kick is not currently profitable. However, the company tentatively plans to become profitable through advertising in one to three years.

Content moderation

Compared to its competitor

, Kick has looser policies against copyright infringement, hate speech, gambling content, harassment, and sexual content. However, its community guidelines prohibit those behaviors, as well as

doxing Doxing or doxxing is the act of publicly providing personally identifiable information Personal data, also known as personal information or personally identifiable information (PII), is any information related to an identifiable person. The ...

and violent conduct. 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. A ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' 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. Other content creators of the platform have had sex while streaming, brandished sex toys at children and made sexual remarks toward underage girls. A banned user of the website once coaxed underage girls to strip while on video calls and distributed their images on

Discord Discord is an instant messaging and Voice over IP, VoIP social platform which allows communication through Voice over IP, voice calls, Videotelephony, video calls, text messaging, and digital media, media. Communication can be private or take ...

. After being banned from Twitch for what the streaming platform called "unmoderated hateful conduct on chat" in 2023, streamer

migrated to Kick, where he livestreamed the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

, scrolled through

PornHub Pornhub is a Canadian-owned Internet pornography video-sharing website, one of several owned by adult entertainment conglomerate Aylo. , Pornhub is the 16th- most-visited website in the world and the most-visited adult website. The site al ...

and invited

white nationalist White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a Race (human categorization), raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara ...

Nick Fuentes Nicholas Joseph Fuentes (born August 18, 1998) is an American Far-right politics, far-rightMultiple sources: * * * * * Pundit, political pundit, activist, and Online streamer, live streamer who promotes White supremacy, white supremacist, Hom ...

on a livestream. Kick has been called "a playground for people to be degenerate" by Kristin Gillespie, a co-founder of the New York-based Rights to Unmute, a

not-for-profit A not-for-profit or non-for-profit organization (NFPO) is a Legal Entity, legal entity that does not distribute surplus funds to its members and is formed to fulfill specific objectives. While not-for-profit organizations and Nonprofit organ ...

organization that seeks to combat racism, bigotry, and harassment in gaming. She said in May 2024 that Kick has tolerated overly sexual and, sometimes, "predatory behavior" on the platform. Kick streamer

Hikaru Nakamura Christopher Hikaru Nakamura Kick CEO Ed Craven stated in an interview that "people are realizing

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

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.

Gambling content

Kick, which was founded by gambling industry businessmen Bijan Tehrani and Ed Craven, who are also the founders of the online casino website Stake.com, has been accused of promoting gambling content to its audience, including underage people, as well as having ties to gambling industry figures and influencers. Kick is a

loss leader A loss leader (also leader) is a pricing strategy where a product is sold at a price below its market cost to stimulate other sales of more profitable goods or services. With this sales promotion/marketing strategy, a "leader" is any popular artic ...

to Stake.

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

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 as the result of gambling streamers who broadcast themselves on Kick while using the gambling platform.

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

Gambling Studies Program co-director Timothy Fong has expressed concerns about Kick's lack of transparency over gambling content. Twitch's former director of creator development, Marcus Graham, also criticized Kick for its lack of transparency around its connections to gambling platforms. He stated that "there are so many red flags present that it is embarrassing watching people who I respect give this platform an ounce of credibility". In 2022, Graham called Kick a "sham" due to its lack of information about its investors. In order to evade U.S. regulations on gambling, which have made the practice illegal in some states, some American streamers have moved out of the country to broadcast gambling streams on the platform. 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 a requirement existed in his contract). Kolcheff stated that he intended to move out of the United States to record his gambling streams since Stake.com was not allowed to operate in the country. Craven stated in 2023 that the website intended to decrease exposure to gambling content. 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. In March 2025, Kick updated its monetization policies by removing the partner program payout for streamers in the Slots & Casino category. This change means that gambling content creators, including those streaming on platforms like Stake, are no longer eligible for the hourly pay under Kick's Partner Program. Kick's decision aligns with growing ethical concerns about incentivizing gambling content, especially among younger audiences.

Streaming deals

* Trainwreckstv was among the earliest major streaming personalities on the platform. * In February 2023,

announced he had signed a streaming deal with Kick for an undisclosed amount. * In May 2023, BruceDropEmOff announced that he had partnered with Kick, though the sum of the deal was undisclosed. * On June 16, 2023, Kick announced that xQc signed a two-year, $70 million non-exclusive deal to the platform, with incentives that could increase the deal's value to $100 million. This made the signing of xQc to Kick the largest streaming deal, surpassing

Ninja A , or was a spy and infiltrator in pre-modern Japan. The functions of a ninja included siege and infiltration, ambush, reconnaissance, espionage, deception, and later bodyguarding.Kawakami, pp. 21–22 Antecedents may have existed as ear ...

's $50 million exclusivity deal with the defunct

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

-owned Mixer. * On June 19, 2023, Kick signed Amouranth, though the details of her deal were not disclosed. * In June 2023,

political commentator A pundit is a person who offers opinion in an authoritative manner on a particular subject area (typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport), usually through the mass media. The term pundit describes both women and men, altho ...

Steven "Destiny" Bonnell announced a non-exclusive 12-month partnership with Kick for an undisclosed 7-figure amount. * In August 2023, Kick announced the signing of Italian football journalist

Fabrizio Romano Fabrizio Romano (born 21 February 1993) is an Italian sports journalist. He specializes in news about football transfers and is known for using the catchphrase "Here we go!" when reporting on completed deals. Early and personal life Romano wa ...

. He exclusively streamed his summer

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

coverage on the platform, including his deadline day show on September 1. * In November 2023, Kick signed

Tfue Turner Tenney (born January 2, 1998), better known as Tfue, is an American online streamer, esports player, and YouTuber best known for playing ''Fortnite''. Career Tenney previously streamed games such as ''Call of Duty'', ''Destiny (game), ...

, though the sum of the deal was undisclosed. * In November 2024, Ilya Maddyson (Ilya Davydov in real life) announced that he had signed a $1 million deal with Kick. * In August 2024,influence Adin Ross hosted a stream with U.S. presidential candidate

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

, which attracted significant attention with 580,000 live viewers and over 2.7 million views on YouTube. This event was part of Trump's campaign strategy to engage with younger audiences, with his son Barron reportedly encouraging the outreach to the "manosphere" community.

Sponsorships

Motorsport

In January 2023, Alfa Romeo F1 Team signed a multi-year sponsorship deal with Kick. Kick replaced

Stake A stake is a large wooden or metal implement designed to be driven into the ground and may refer to: Tools * Archer's stake, a defensive stake carried by medieval longbowmen * Survey stakes, markers used by surveyors * Sudis (stake) (Latin for ...

(Alfa Romeo's title sponsor) in countries where gambling and sports betting advertisements are not allowed as "Alfa Romeo F1 Team Kick". Alfa Romeo raced a revised Kick livery called the "disruptive livery" at the

2023 Belgian Grand Prix The 2023 Belgian Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 MSC Cruises Belgian Grand Prix 2023) was a Formula One motor race that was held on 30 July 2023 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Stavelot, Belgium. It was the twelfth round of ...

. Alfa Romeo left the sport after the end of the year, and Kick extended their relationship with

, renaming the team to "Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber." 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. Kick also secured the naming rights to Sauber's 2024 and 2025 chassis, with the 2024 car named as Kick Sauber C44.

Esports

In June 2023, Sauber Esports announced a title partnership with Kick to form "Alfa Romeo F1 Team KICK Esports" and entered the 2023–24 Formula One Sim Racing World Championship as KICK F1 Sim Racing Team (the team entered the first round as Alfa Romeo F1 Team KICK Esports before Alfa Romeo's departure). KICK F1 Sim Racing Team continues with Thomas Ronhaar and Brendon Leigh for the 2024–25 season following a successful first season.

Football

In August 2023, Kick signed a multi-year sponsorship deal with

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club Everton as the club's official sleeve sponsor.

MMA

In October 2024, the UFC partnered with Kick to launch a dedicated streaming channel featuring watchalongs, press conferences, behind-the-scenes content, and fighter interviews.

Policies

According to Kick, streamers on the platform keep 95% of subscription revenue.

References

External links

* {{Video game live streaming services Live streaming services Video hosting Video game streaming services Internet properties established in 2022