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Kick Streaming News: Your go-to hub for the latest headlines and developments on the Kick streaming platform. From streamer updates to new platform features, we cover everything happening on Kick.com daily.
Between 2020 and 2022, gambling on streaming platform Twitch became an increasingly common occurrence. Numerous top content creators including the likes of Felix “xQc” Lengyel and Tyler “Trainwrecks” Niknam began streaming their online casino exploits. This garnered scrutiny at the time from both fellow streamers and some fans. The discussion got loud enough that the streaming platform felt compelled to take action.
In 2021, Twitch barred streamers from sharing affiliate links that would provide streamers with revenue for sending fans to gambling sites. In October 2022, Twitch rolled out a new set of rules regarding what sort of gambling and betting-related content was allowed on the platform, cracking down on the streaming of many popular betting practices.
“We are further tightening our rules to also prohibit any streaming of listed sites that contain slots, roulette, and dice games and are unlicensed in the U.S. or other jurisdictions that offer consumer protections,” Twitch announced in a statement.
This change did not ban streamers from airing certain betting-related content. The announcement explicitly exempted popular forms of gambling like sports betting, daily fantasy sports, or poker. However, the restrictions on which sites were allowed and what sort of content could be created led to a major uproar among those who were regularly streaming gambling content, as well as their loyal fans. Shortly thereafter came the announcement of a new, rival streaming platform: Kick.
The launch of Kick was a splashy one, with Trainwrecks playing a key part in unveiling the platform. Though details regarding the Kick ownership were murky at first, things soon became clear.
Bijan Tehrani and Ed Craven, founders of gambling site Stake.com, were eventually confirmed to be founders of Kick. Craven serves as the site’s CEO, while Tehrani’s also has an overseeing role in the company.
Many expressed joy over the introduction of a legitimate competitor to Twitch. Though Twitch is the leading platform in livestreaming and has battled back numerous short-lived competitors, it maintains an awkward and sometimes even hostile relationship with many users. This stems from a wide variety of issues, including opaque moderation practices and numerous unpopular policies regarding advertising.
Others were more skeptical about the announcement of Kick. Many brushed it off as a probable short-lived competitor similar to Microsoft’s defunct Mixer service. There was also question about whether it was even fully distinct from Twitch, given its identical user interface and reliance on Amazon Web Services, a streaming service operated by Twitch’s parent company.
Much of the discussion focused on Kick’s apparent ties to Stake.com. Speaking in interviews, Craven actively sought to distance the two companies and their operations.
This led to questions regarding how the site could be a successful business in the streaming space. Craven stated that the plan was to roll out advertisements on the site, but Twitch has historically struggled to attract and retain prominent advertisers. The speculation was that Kick was instead simply meant to be a marketing arm for Stake, something Craven denied at the time.
Kick was able to quickly attract a large number of upstart streamers thanks to its greater discoverability and favorable revenue split.
Twitch has attracted major criticism for how streamers are able to monetize the platform. Though there have been several major success stories, Twitch would take half of the money given to streamers through subscriptions and skims a significant amount of money off the top of purchase of the platform’s currency, Bits.
Kick attempted to set itself apart from Twitch through this. While Twitch had a 50-50 revenue split for subscriptions, Kick offered a 95-5 split in favor of the streamers. This was a significant enough development for Kick to make inroads with some of the streamers it could attract to its platform.
Though Twitch is the world’s largest livestreaming-focused social media platform, Kick garnered incredible mainstream attention in 2023.
This stemmed from a string of contract agreements with a number of Twitch’s biggest names. That string started with Adin Ross in March 2023, with Ross becoming the first major star for the platform. Kick then signed Bruce “BruceDropEmOff” Ray in May 2023.
In June 2023, Kick announced that it had come to terms on a two-year, nine-figure contract with xQc. The signing was a major talking point across entertainment media. The contract was frequently compared with that of NBA superstar Lebron James, who signed a two-year contract with the Los Angeles Lakers worth $101 million around the same time.
xQc’s deal was also notable in that it wasn’t exclusive. Though Tyler “Ninja” Blevins and Michael “shroud” Grzesiek signed large contracts with Mixer, both of them were compelled to abandon their Twitch channels during that time, as Mixer demanded exclusivity in exchange for the big-money deals. Conversely, xQc was allowed to air content across other platforms in addition to Kick.
Kick continued signing big names from Twitch throughout 2023. A few days after xQc’s signing was announced, the platform announced a similar non-exclusive deal with Kaitlyn “Amouranth” Siragusa, but with no financial details being confirmed.
From there, Kick announced another signing with political streamer Steven “Destiny” Bonnell. It was stated that this deal was worth a seven-figure sum, though exact numbers again were not given.
Many others also announced signing with Kick during this time including former top Twitch streamer Turner “tfue” Tenney and famed chess grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura.
Though Kick’s most notable and recognizable streamers are from North America, it has grown globally at a surprising rate, particularly in Latin America and the Middle East.
In October 2024, Adin Ross was surpassed as the most-followed streamer on Kick by Luis “Westcol” Fernando Villa Álvarez. The Colombian streamer passed by Ross’ record and quickly expanded his lead, hitting 1.8 million followers compared with Ross’ 1.5 million followers by February 2025.
Spanish-language streaming is quietly more popular than English-language streaming on the platform, which has been seen with personalities like Ibai Llanos. Westcol isn’t the only Latin American streamer to garner a massive following on the platform, however. Stiven “mrstiventc” Tangarife Caicedo and Iván Raúl “Spreen” Buhajeruk Fernández also rank among the most popular personalities on the platform.
Related article – Most followed streamers on Kick of 2025
Latin America isn’t the only non-English-speaking language market that has popular streamers on Kick, either. Turkiye’s Mert “RRaenee” Yilmaz and Tuğkan “Elraenn” Gönültas rank among the most-followed streamers on the platform. Saudi Arabia’s Mofareh “drb7h” al Asiri and Ahmed “SXB” Alqahtani also stand high atop these rankings.
Though Kick is known for its North American personalities, its popularity clearly extends beyond that as it continues to expand its reach around and across the globe.
See all the top Kick streamers of 2024.
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