Kick Hits New High, Twitch Stumbles Again
The live-streaming landscape is shifting as Kick continues its meteoric rise, officially surpassing 1 billion hours watched in Q2 2025, according to StreamCharts. This marks the first time the upstart platform has crossed the billion-hour threshold in a single quarter, signaling that its early bets on creators and aggressive payout strategy are paying off.
Since launching in late 2022, Kick has positioned itself as a serious challenger to Twitch by offering higher revenue splits and fewer restrictions. Many initially doubted its staying power, comparing it to the short-lived Mixer. But with deep backing from Stake and headline-grabbing streamer signings, Kick quickly turned skeptics into believers.
Big Names and Big Payouts Drive Growth
From the outset, Kick made waves by locking in top streamers like Adin Ross, xQc, and Amouranth, with xQc’s reported $100 million contract dominating headlines and raising eyebrows across the industry. These high-profile acquisitions drew massive audiences early on and helped Kick establish a foothold in an otherwise Twitch-dominated market.
Those investments are now translating into measurable success. StreamCharts reports Kick’s viewership is up 28.1% since the start of the year, reclaiming an additional 3.74% of the market share just in Q2. The platform has now reached over 25% of the live-streaming market, marking a major milestone for the relatively young company.
Twitch’s Decline Continues
Meanwhile, Twitch continues to lose ground, posting its third consecutive quarterly decline in key metrics. Most recently, the Amazon-owned platform shed another 0.9% in market share, reinforcing a trend that has persisted since late 2024.
Industry analysts point to Twitch’s controversial multistreaming policy change as a key reason behind its struggles. By allowing creators to stream on multiple platforms simultaneously, Twitch effectively diluted its exclusivity, opening the door for competitors like Kick to capture more viewership.
Kick Co-Founder Reflects on the Journey
In a recent statement, Kick co-founder Bijan Tehrani credited the platform’s origin to decisions made by Twitch itself. He noted that Twitch’s ban of his co-founder Ed Craven and the platform’s move to cut creator revenue shares were pivotal moments that spurred the creation of Kick.
“At the time, critics said Kick could never rival Twitch,” Tehrani remarked. “Now, with over a quarter of the market and growing faster than ever, we’ve proven them wrong.”
YouTube Still on Top
While Kick’s rise is impressive, YouTube Live remains the undisputed leader in live streaming. The platform accounted for more than half of all hours watched in Q2 2025, logging a staggering 14.83 billion hours viewed during the quarter.
Still, Kick’s growth shows no signs of slowing. In early June, popular streamer Asmongold shared that just two streams on Kick earned him more than a full month of Twitch income, underscoring the financial appeal that continues to draw creators to the platform.
As the streaming wars intensify, Kick’s billion-hour milestone may only be the beginning of a new era for the live-streaming industry.
