Video streaming has become one of the most rewarding activities on social media. It offers premium entertainment for the viewers while the streamer gets a payday. The question with video streaming has never been whether the content creators get paid but how much they get from their streams.
Like other streaming services, Kicks rewards its content creators depending on their engagement. There are rumors that Kick is changing its reward structure to offer streamers up to $16 per hour, but that is yet to happen. As of the time of this review, Kick pays every member of its Creator Program up to 95% of all donations and subscriptions to their streams.
This payment may mean that the creator only gets a few hundred dollars or hundreds of millions as their streaming rewards. Let's explore the highest-paying streams on Kick and how they are funded. But before then, what is Kick?
What happens on Kick?
Every true eSport and video streaming fan is familiar with hosting platforms like Twitch, Owncast, Mobcrush, and Facebook Gaming. These platforms offer live streaming services for gamers and other content creators to show timely feeds of their activities and make money from the streams. No, we are not talking about YouTube. We know YouTube pays its content creators quite well, but this is strictly about live streams.
Kick is one of the latest live-streaming platforms where content creators and entertainers can host their broadcasts and monetize their views. Creators on Kick are mostly gamers or eSport players broadcasting their progress, but the platform also accommodates streams from other creatives sharing their daily lives.
Kick has become one of the fastest-growing live-streaming platforms in the world, with over 66,900 active channels and at least 844,000 streamers since its official launch in January 2023. It also has some of the highest-paid streamers across all live-streaming platforms. Now that we covered the basics, the question is, "Who are the highest-paid streamers on Kick?"
Felix "xQc" Lengyel
xQc has possibly become the highest-earning streamer in the entertainment industry as he got a two-year deal with Kick worth $70 million and could reach $100 million when we consider the incentives. The former Twitch star used to earn up to $300,000 monthly from his broadcasts, but his contract with Kick has beaten that amount according to an article on Casinojungle.ca
xQc's contract with Twitch fell through when the Amazon-owned platform reduced the earnings of all its high-ending streamers to 70%, while regular Affiliates can only get 50% of their donations. The poor payment policy at Twitch has strained the platform's relationship with its lead streamers, but xQc has gotten a good deal out of it.
As one of the most viewed streamers on Twitch, xQc used to stream games like Grand Theft Auto V (GTA) and Escape from Tarkov. He also earned his reputation from streaming casino games, but the gambling restrictions on Twitch may have affected his deal with Kick.
Now that Felix Lengyel has started his streaming deal with Kick, the platform has fewer streaming restrictions and allows xQc to share his streams on other platforms, including their competition, Twitch.
Tyler Niknam
You know him as Trainwreckstv, and he is easily one of the highest-paid live streamers. Like most live streamers, Trainwreckstv built his reputation from streaming his game progress on Twitch. His most popular broadcasts were from playing the popular party game "Among Us."
Tyler Niknam was one of the first Twitch celebrities to join Kick when the platform launched in 2022. Rumor even has it that Trainwrecktv played notable roles in the launch of Kick and the poaching of other top Twitch streamers.
While we can't confirm the rumors, we know that as of March 2023, Trainwreckstv was earning up to $16,000 from his 3,500 subscribers on Kick. Tyler moved to Kick in December 2022 after Twitch placed restrictions on several gambling broadcasts, including content from Stakes.com, which used to be his biggest stream.
Kaitlyn "Amouranth" Siragusa
Amouranth has been in the news for several interesting reasons: her skills in the Mario Kart games, some issues with her relationship, her upcoming television show, and recently, her move from Twitch to Kick.
The 30-year-old internet sensation disclosed her move to Kick in June 2023 after making claims that Twitch failed to recognize her potential as a leading female streamer. While the details of her deal with Kick remain undisclosed, we know that Amouranth made up to $35 million on her initial contract with Kick.
Nick “Nickmercs” Kolcheff
Nickmercs has earned his reputation as one of the top content creators on YouTube, but there is no denying that he is a top earner on Kick. The 33-year-old recently joined the growing list of Kick celebrities with a whopping $10 million initial deal.
As the co-owner of the FaZe clan, Nick Kolcheff became popular from his Fortnite and Call of Duty: Warzone broadcasts. He has had an interesting journey streaming on YouTube and Instagram and has over 1 million followers on TikTok. When it comes to making changes, most fans are familiar with Nickmerc's transition from his team, 100 Thieves, and his fallout with the top streamer Ninja in 2017. However, leaving Twitch after a 14-year relationship would have been overkill.
Despite his new deal with Kick, Nickmercs Kolcheff will continue to broadcast his streams on Twitch. Kick's contract allows Nickmercs to continue streaming on other gaming platforms as long as his main hours are on Kick.
Who funds Streams on Kick?
Kick is still a new hosting platform compared to Twitch, YouTube, or other established platforms. It is quite surprising that the new platform throws so much money around despite its limited engagement. Most observers even believe that there is something shady going on underground.
Whatever is going on, we assure you it is not shady. Subscriptions and donations mostly fund kick. We cannot deny that Kick might be associated with the popular bitcoin casino site stakes.com. They are both operated by companies linked to Ed Craven and Bujan Tehrani. However, we know that Kick relies heavily on subscriptions and continues to reward streamers with its mouth-watering 95/5 revenue split.