MarketKick (service)
Company Profile

Kick (service)

Kick is an Australian video livestreaming service. It is operated by Kick Streaming Pty Ltd and backed by online casino company Stake and streaming personality Trainwreckstv. Kick was founded in 2022 as a competitor to Twitch, with a focus on looser moderation, higher revenue shares for streamers, and the inclusion of online gambling content which has been banned from other platforms. In 2023, Kick made multiple high-profile deals with streamers including Adin Ross and xQc. In Q3 2025, StreamCharts listed Kick.com as the fourth most watched livestreaming platform behind YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch. From 2023 until the end of 2025, Kick was also the sponsor of the Sauber Motorsport racing team in Formula One.

Corporate structure
The Kick streaming platform had its inception in December 2022. To formalize its operations as a registered company in Australia, Kick Streaming Pty Ltd was established on 14 November of the same year. The sole shareholder of Kick Streaming is Easygo Entertainment Pty Ltd. Its parent company Easygo Entertainment was registered days prior on 8 November 2022. In a July 2023 interview, Craven said Kick is not currently profitable. However, the company tentatively plans to become profitable through advertising in one to three years. At the same time, Kick Dev opened its public API and introduced a $100,000 developer fund to encourage the creation of third-party tools that enhance the streaming experience. == Controversies ==
Controversies
Content moderation Compared to its competitor Twitch, Kick has looser policies against copyright infringement, hate speech, gambling content, harassment, and sexual content. However, its community guidelines prohibit those behaviors, as well as doxing and violent conduct. A representative of the website said in March 2023 that the platform was in the process of expanding its moderation efforts and that it did not tolerate hate speech or copyright violations. Other content creators of the platform have had sex while streaming, brandished sex toys at children and made sexual remarks toward underage girls. After being banned from Twitch for what the streaming platform called "unmoderated hateful conduct on chat" in 2023, streamer Adin Ross migrated to Kick, where he livestreamed the Super Bowl, scrolled through Pornhub and invited white nationalist Nick Fuentes on a livestream. Kick streamer Hikaru Nakamura said that the platform was undergoing the same initial journey as other social media websites, including Twitch, which he said was "very much the Wild West" when it started. Nakamura further said that it usually takes time for such websites to adapt. Ed Craven, founder and owner of the streaming platform Kick, was active in the stream chat while this was unfolding, sending laughing emotes. The woman attempted to leave the hotel room but was temporarily blocked by the third streamer. She then called she situation "creepy" and tried leaving again. The man insisted it was just them two and chased after her when she left. Later, Denino and Pepper exited the hotel and were apprehended by police officers. They were later released without charge. After the incident, some streamers considered leaving the platform with some vowing to leave. Live death of a streamer On the night of 17–18 August 2025, Jean Pormanove, whose real name was Raphaël Graven, died while streaming. Pormanove had been a target of repeated harassment, humiliation, and physical abuse live on stream by his two partners, identified as "Naruto" (real name Owen Cenazandotti) and Safine Hamadi. His streams were known for showing him regularly being subjected to mistreatment, with footage of the abuse broadcast to viewers for months. A judicial investigation into the cause of his death was launched by the Nice public prosecutor's office. On 26 August, Chappaz announced that the government would sue Kick for alleged negligence. On the same day, the Paris prosecutor's office announced that an investigation would be opened into whether Kick had violated the EU Digital Services Act and if it had knowingly broadcast "videos of deliberate attacks on personal integrity". Kick criticized these decisions as politicizing the death. On 27 January 2026, Cenazandotti and Hamadi were taken into custody on charges of assault, incitement to hatred, abuse of a vulnerable person, and recording and broadcasting violent images in connection with Pormanove's death. Attack on Syko Stu On 24 August 2025, Raja Jackson, best known as the son of former martial artist Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, knocked independent wrestler Syko Stu unconscious with a wrestling slam and then proceeded to hit his unconscious head over 20 times in what was considered to be an unprompted attack. Raja, who is also known to livestream on Kick and other services, was livestreaming on Kick throughout the entire ordeal, and his cameraman captured all footage (including both the incident that sparked the attack and the attack itself). == Gambling content ==
Gambling content
Kick has been accused of promoting gambling content to its audience, including underage people, as well as having ties to gambling industry figures and influencers. The founders of the online casino website Stake.com, Bijan Tehrani and Ed Craven, started Kick two months after Twitch banned certain gambling videos including those from Stake. Stake and Kick operate from the same headquarters in Melbourne, both are owned by Easygo, and share a number of executives and employees. Craven stated in 2023 that the website intended to decrease exposure to gambling content. Kick's decision aligns with growing ethical concerns about incentivizing gambling content, especially among younger audiences. == Streaming deals ==
Streaming deals
Trainwreckstv was among the earliest major streaming personalities on Kick. Through 2023, the platform signed streaming deals with Hikaru Nakamura, Adin Ross, BruceDropEmOff, Amouranth, Tfue, and the Italian football journalist Fabrizio Romano. In June 2023, Kick announced that xQc signed a two-year, $70 million non-exclusive deal to the platform, with incentives that could increase the deal's value to $100 million. This made the signing of xQc to Kick the largest streaming deal, surpassing Ninja's $50 million exclusivity deal with the defunct Microsoft-owned Mixer. Kick also signed a $1 million deal with . UFC fighter Max Holloway streams regularly on Kick. In August 2024, Adin Ross hosted a stream with U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, which had 580,000 live viewers and over 2.7 million views on YouTube. This event was part of Trump's campaign strategy to engage with younger audiences, with his son Barron reportedly encouraging the outreach to the "manosphere" community. == Sponsorships ==
Sponsorships
Motorsport In January 2023, Alfa Romeo F1 Team signed a multi-year sponsorship deal with Kick. Kick replaced Stake (Alfa Romeo's title sponsor) in countries where gambling and sports betting advertisements are not allowed as "Alfa Romeo F1 Team Kick". Alfa Romeo raced a revised Kick livery called the "disruptive livery" at the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix. Alfa Romeo left the sport after the end of the year, and Kick extended their relationship with Sauber Motorsport, renaming the team to "Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber." The team will race as "Kick Sauber F1 Team" in countries with restrictions on promoting gambling, which was previously done with Alfa Romeo's title sponsorship. Kick also secured the naming rights to Sauber's 2024 and 2025 chassis, naming it as Kick Sauber C44 and Kick Sauber C45, respectively. Esports In June 2023, Sauber Esports announced a title partnership with Kick to form "Alfa Romeo F1 Team KICK Esports" and entered the 2023–24 Formula One Sim Racing World Championship as KICK F1 Sim Racing Team (the team entered the first round as Alfa Romeo F1 Team KICK Esports prior to Alfa Romeo's departure). KICK F1 Sim Racing Team continues with Thomas Ronhaar and Brendon Leigh for the 2024–25 season following a successful first season. Football In August 2023, Kick signed a multi-year sponsorship deal with Premier League club Everton as the club's official sleeve sponsor. MMA In October 2024, the UFC partnered with Kick to launch a dedicated streaming channel featuring watchalongs, press conferences, behind-the-scenes content, and fighter interviews. == Policies ==
Policies
According to Kick, streamers on the platform keep 95% of subscription revenue. In late 2024, Kick implemented changes to its gambling policies to address concerns over harmful and exploitative content. Effective 1 February 2025, the platform permits gambling streams only from sites that use ID verification to ensure users are at least 18 years old. == References ==
tickerdossier.comtickerdossier.substack.com