Twitch Rival Kick’s Viewership Surges in 2023: A New Player in the Gaming World

Rival Kick has seen a remarkable surge in its viewership within the span of three months in 2023. The platform, though still in Beta, is climbing up the ladder at an accelerated rate and though its numbers are not yet comparable to Twitch, the 300% rise in its viewers is an impressive feat.

In late 2022, Kick was initiated with the goal of competing with Twitch by emphasizing the importance of its creators. To encourage more people to join, Kick proposed a 95-5 revenue split, which was significantly more beneficial compared to Twitch’s 50-50, and also had more lenient community regulations, particularly concerning sexual content and gambling, which had often resulted in countless Twitch bans (https://gamerant.com/exohydrax-twitch-ban-black-curvy-accusation/). In addition, the streaming platform had succeeded in signing a few big names, like Adin Ross, which contributed to its rapid growth.

Kick recently achieved a noteworthy feat, almost tripling its viewership in one month. According to StreamElements, the service had 12.8 million hours watched in January, 13.3 million in February, and then a sharp spike to 35.8 million in March and 51.8 million in April. This is a 300% increase when compared to January. The number of active channels also soared, going from 9,100 in January to 67,000 in April, despite some community backlash concerning certain features, such as problematic usernames.

According to Gil Hirsch, CEO of StreamElements, it is too soon to tell if Kick will have sustained success, yet the figures are quite remarkable and the platform appears to be gaining traction, perhaps due to its non-gaming content that is pulling in viewers. Another likely factor for the rise in numbers is the release of the Kick mobile app in March. Many people prefer to watch streams on their phones, and this option certainly had an effect on the growth.

In spite of its growth in popularity, Kick is still having difficulty convincing some of Twitch’s top names to make the switch. For example, Amouranth rejected the proposal to move over to the platform, even after her brief suspension from Twitch. She’s one of the most renowned streamers on the platform, and she declined because of her worries over the looser regulations on Kick, as well as her fear of forfeiting certain benefits she currently enjoys on Twitch.