Is Twitch Still King? Streamer’s Success on Kick Raises Questions for Smaller Channels
16 September 2024
Kaleb Vanderhorst Author Twitch has been in an arms race with the other top streaming platforms for years now, but for the first time ever, it looks like some real competitors are taking Twitch’s market share.
Kick, YouTube, and Facebook gaming are not new by any means, but with the updates to YouTube’s live streaming and Kick pumping out tons of great content day by day, they’re biting on Twitch’s heels.
Kick, in particular, has become the go-to destination for newer streamers as their profit sharing is substantially better than Twitch’s, and many new streamers even get guaranteed hourly rates.
It’s really just basic math when you look at it: Kick operates on a 95:5 revenue split, which is heaps better than Twitch’s most preferred rate. On Twitch, new affiliates and partners usually end up with a 50:50 split at best, a far cry from 95:5.
Moreover, Kick streamers get paid by the hour as long as they manage to average 100 viewers on stream, go live for at least 15 days in a 30-day period, stream for at least 50 hours, and maintain at least 25 subs. The average streamer who meets this threshold would be making close to $25 an hour on top of his subs, donations, and ad revenue.
On YouTube’s side of things, they’re finally starting to really invest in the streaming segment of their site, inherently posing a threat to Twitch based purely on their size. If YouTube could even get 5% of its normal viewer base active in live streaming, they would be a force to be reckoned with.
TheGrefg Speaks on Income Discrepancies Between Kick and Twitch
Popular Kick streamer TheGrefg spoke out on X/Twitter and recently revealed how much he made during his time at Twitch versus how much he makes on Kick.com.
Translated from Spanish, TheGrefg said:
“With the 24-hour live show with Frank, I have started exploring the topic of subs on Twitch and Kick.
TWITCH: 4579 subs = $7007.25
KICK: 10668 subs = $50562
In other words (in my case);
The sub on Twitch gets me: $1.53
The sub on Kick gets me: $4.73”
Con el directo 24 horas con Frank me ha dado por curiosear el tema de las subs en Twitch y Kick.
TWITCH: 4579 subs = $7007,25
KICK: 10668 subs = $50562En otras palabras (en mi caso);
La sub en Twitch me llega: $1,53
La sub en Kick me llega: $4,73Sigo? pic.twitter.com/l8vGQx5UOD
— Grefg =) (@TheGrefg) September 4, 2024
He compared how much he was making on the two platforms, and unfortunately for Twitch, it’s not even close.
With 4579 active subs on Twitch, he made a little over $7,000, with each sub paying him $1.53. On Kick.com, he is making well over double that amount, bringing in $4.73 per subscriber.
The only thing holding Kick back as of now is its smaller viewer base, but even that is growing quite fast.
If things keep going as they are, Twitch is going to lose all of the upcoming talent to Kick, and when the current generation of streamers starts fading, Kick will take the limelight. Unlike Mixer’s mega blunder a couple of years back, Kick is really poised to dethrone the king.
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