Posted on: December 7, 2022, 07:51h.
Last updated on: December 7, 2022, 07:51h.
Twitch recently announced that it would cut off certain types of gambling content on the streaming platform. That led to a drop in viewership of at least 20%, and an alternative backed by Stake.com might be where those viewers are now going.
Tyler ‘Trainwreck’ Niknam, who helped lead Twitch to stardom with his content, announced this week that he’s switching to Kick.com. He’ll be providing content there, as well as serving as a “non-owner adviser and non-exclusive broadcaster.”
An Internet sleuth and YouTuber, Stephen ‘Coffeezilla’ Findeisen, discovered Kick.com’s links to Stake.com after doing a little digging. As a result, it would seem that Kick wants to be everything Twitch no longer wants to be.
Twitch Gets Kicked By Kick
Twitch grew to be the top streaming platform through the inclusion of gambling- and video game-related content. However, in response to complaints by some of its top streamers upset by the gambling content, Twitch backed off.
A few months ago, the Amazon-owned company announced that it would no longer allow certain types of content, including streams by certain operators (which included Stake.com) that focused on slot machines, roulette or dice games. Poker and sports betting, however, were safe.
Twitch has built an empire off of our backs and has the audacity to spit in all of our faces by not only giving us no financial security, with its inconsistent policies, but by also cutting our pay in places that they have no right to cut,” said former Twitch streamer Trainwreck.
In addition, Twitch changed its monetization policy. Where it was previously 70/30 in favor of the content creators, the new split was 50/50. The 70/30 remained for only the first $100,000 of earnings, which meant that all of the top earners were going to see drastic reductions in profit.
Those changes are making Trainwreck, with his 2.1 million Twitch followers, jump ship. Instead of giving up half his earnings to Twitch, he’ll only have to give up 5% to Kick, according to his announcement.
Kick Banks On Advertisers
Kick believes it can make more money through advertising deals than direct content. By reducing its stake in the content, it hopes to quickly attract more streamers and all of their followers, leading advertising to open their wallets.
Gambling was a huge part of Twitch before it was cut off. Statistics show that the slot machine category registered around 31 million hours of viewing in April. This later jumped to 31 million only four months later.
However, it’s also possible that Kick eventually runs into the same types of problems over its content that Twitch did. There were threats to ban Twitch in the US because of certain types of content. In addition, the company has also run into issues in South Korea, Russia and China.
On reddit “CalebStake” created the kickstreaming subreddit, they admit it in job apps and the owner of stake is doing giveaways there now. pic.twitter.com/JbCTSzozfI
— Coffeezilla (@coffeebreak_YT) December 6, 2022
Kick has already run into trouble for allegedly stealing, through embedded content, Twitch streams. Having connections to Stake.com could also eventually become an issue, as well. While the gaming platform Canadian rapper Drake loves may have deep pockets, its status as a reputable gambling option has been called into question.
Several other streaming platforms have tried to threaten Twitch’s reign, but they all failed. Trovo, DLive and Mixer sought to unseat the champ before throwing in the towel. However, perhaps Kick will have learned where they went wrong.
