As Kai Cenat, one of Twitch’s biggest creators, faces his fifth ban on the platform,increasing numbers of people are calling for him to join Kick. Kick is a rival streaming platform that has a reputation for being less strict on what creators can upload, though it has beencracking down on sexual content and hot tub streams. It isn’t nearly as big as Twitch, andhas been accused of faking views with bots, but has still drawn in big streamers like Adin Ross, Destiny, and Trainwreck, who is a non-owner advisor for the platform.
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This is incredible for streamers and puts the earning power of their content into their own hands – nobody can deny this. Kick may have fewer viewers right now, and may potentially be view botting to hide this, but more competition is good and could push Twitch to give its streamers better deals. However, Kick has been widely considered to be unsustainable. There’s no logical way for it to keep the platform running on so little revenue from streams, especially considering its overall viewership is a fraction of Twitch’s. There’s also the fact that it apparentlypays Amazon to use Twitch’s own video system. So how is it surviving?
Obviously, gambling is incredibly addictive, and very detrimental to the mental health of those that do get addicted –gambling addiction has been linked to elevated suicide ratesand has been known to tear families apart. Obviously, this is a net bad for society, but on top of streamerspromoting hate speech, showing porn of minors, and straight up just having sex without getting banned, it’s pretty clear that Kick is a bad influence on impressionable young viewers in every possible way.
Kick’s success will rely on the talent it draws to the platform, and especially on who it can poach from Twitch. Kai Cenat is just the latest streamer to be courted, and the more Twitch closes in on people violating its content policies, the more big streamers will be tempted to jump ship. My hope is that they’ll recognise the severity of the choice they’d be making, but money may cloud their judgment as they consider their options. Twitch’s policies aren’t great for its streamers, but Kick’s policies are bad for all of us.
