NYT:
[He] chats with fans, hosts reality shows and broadcasts himself playing video games. He has become a star in the livestreaming world, with nearly 12 million followers and the ability to attract tens of thousands of viewers at a given time. By some metrics, he is the most popular Twitch streamer.
...
Kick is averaging 110,000 livestreams a day, still dwarfed by Twitch’s seven million monthly streamers and 31 million daily viewers. But it has grown quickly and attracted other stars.
The CEO of Kick is ... the co-founder of gambling site Stake, though Stake itself reportedly is not a partner/investor in Kick itself, according to their PR. [The Kick CEO] says that Kick will operate as a loss, which is normal for a “startup,” but the site has attracted controversy for attracting streamers kicked off YouTube or Google for hate speech or toxicity
Kick may look a little sketchy—in December 2022, former Twitch director of creative development ... called Kick "a sham"—but at the very least it seems serious about building a bigger, more mainstream audience. It may not work out: Mixer paid a reported $50 million to pry Ninja away from Twitch, only to announce a shutdown less than a year later, and it was backed by Microsoft money.
Popular online sleuth Coffeezilla was quick to point out tweets and posts about Kick that suggested that the platform's creation was motivated to drive traffic towards the Crypto-Casino Stake, and saw gambling streamer Trainwreckstv's association with the platform as a confirmation of his theory. Here's a full breakdown of the Stake connection.
Bonus:
Many speculate that Kick primarily serves as a promotional tool for Stake and other offshore casinos, financially supporting the platform. Evidence of the relationship between Kick and Stake.com showed when Kick’s logo appeared on the Alfa Romeo cars during an F1 race in Australia instead of Stake’s. Due to Australia’s strict gambling advertising regulations, Stake was likely prohibited from being displayed on the vehicles.
