Kaitlyn Siragusa — you’ll recognise her as variety streamer Amouranth — is leaving behind 6.4 million Twitch followers behind to stake a new claim on livestreaming platform Kick. Like other streamers fed up with poorly communicated changes around stringent monetisation rules and an uncomfortable, confusing 50/50 revenue split on Twitch, Siragusa is willing to take a risk on the unestablished, but potentially more lucrative, streaming site Kick.
#PickKick pic.twitter.com/hjHLdFtfTS
— Kick.com (@KickStreaming) June 20, 2023
Siragusa made the announcement in a wry teaser trailer posted to Twitter on June 17. In the video, she stumbles on a New York Times article describing xQc’s recent $US100 ($139) million deal with Kick, and calls her agent to request the same. A link to the brand new Amouranth Kick page appears at the end of the video, accompanied by an ominous orchestral swell.
Read More: Twitch Mega Streamer xQc Signed By Gambling Company For $US100 ($139) Million
IT’S TIME pic.twitter.com/HyKlZrggRr
— Amouranth (@Amouranth) June 17, 2023
What is Kick?
Kick is a streaming platform geared mostly to lifestyle and gaming content creators. But, in the infancy of its existence, it’s hard to say if it will succeed in usurping Twitch.
The platform is under a year old, created by betting and crypto gaming magnate Ed Craven. Kick is not unrelated to those other capricious ventures — its high-profile deal with self-described gambling addict xQc suggests as much — though it’s withdrawn about how, exactly, it’s related.
All its community guidelines say is that “gambling on Kick with other users is strictly prohibited,” but any other restrictions are dependent “on the laws and regulations of the country you are located.”
Twitch notoriously cracked down on gambling sites in 2022, and currently prevents users from sharing “links or affiliate codes to sites that contain slots, roulette, or dice games.” Twitch has also toyed with some incredibly unpopular changes recently, like its floated change to branded content that would have prevented streamers from using the pre-recorded ads they rely on for revenue.
What are the details of Amouranth’s Kick contract?
“Twitch’s ‘sin’ isn’t trying to squeeze their creators,” Siragusa wrote in a June 19 Twitter thread.
“Their sin is making a business model that doesn’t succeed except maybe at YouTube scale. […] Taking an incremental share of streamer earnings is ham-fisted, and you can’t cut your way to profitability that way.”
Though there have been whispers that Amouranth’s Kick deal was $US30 ($42) million, that rumour’s origin seems to be a meme Twitter account. Siragusa herself hasn’t yet shared any details of the deal; Kotaku reached out for comment.
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