With Kick, the streaming service Twitch now seems to have a serious competitor: For the first time there is a streaming service that also makes controversial streamers attractive offers. With Adin Ross (22), the platform has now poached one of Twitch’s top streamers, allegedly for a lot of money. The German streamer MontanaBlack also seems to be flirting with a change. In a stream on Twitch, he explains when and why switching to Kick is an option for him.
Who did Kick sign? Kick exclusively tied US streamer Adin Ross to himself. In a video, the 22-year-old says that he has had an exciting week.
He was canceled twice and permanently banned on Twitch, but also signed an excellent deal (via youtube). He does not give the exact details of his exclusive contract with Kick.
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Kick is now the 1st alternative for “controversial” streamers
What’s so special about it? In the past, competitors have repeatedly poached top streamers from Twitch.
However, these were always only streamers with a “clean image” that were attractive to advertisers: TimTheTatman, Myth, Ludwig, Valkyrae or DrLupo switched to YouTube for allegedly huge sums of money.
Yet YouTube Gaming has never poached controversial streamers associated with gambling, vulgar language, or scandals:
Kick is now the “first big alternative” for streamers who are controversial or associated with gambling. The general paraphrase for such streamers: “They are not brand-safe”. Big brands could be in trouble if their ads suddenly get aired in front of one of these streamers and they do god-knows-what.
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MontanaBlack is eyeing a move away from Twitch for the first time in years
How does this affect MontanaBlack? The German streamer was asked in a live stream if he could also imagine switching to Kick. MontanaBlack made it clear:
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MontanaBlack says: He needs a good chat – Kick provides it
What does MontanaBlack make a change conditional on? MontanaBlack says that for him to consider a move, the new platform would need to be able to compete with Twitch, particularly in terms of chat features and emotes:
For me as a streamer, at the end of the day – honestly now – it doesn’t matter where I stream’. If the compensation is about the same, then it makes no difference. Also the ranges and everything […] At the end of the day I can’t buy anything from having 5 million followers on Twitch. It’s a number and I’m proud of it – but I can’t buy anything from it.
It is important for MontanaBlack that it streams in good quality and has good chat and emotes. So he stares at it the whole time.
Competitors such as YouTube or Facebook have failed in these matters. The YouTube chat is “not nice”, the Facebook chat has “real names and profile pictures”. For the 34-year-old, it doesn’t work at all that some Karl-Heinz tells him that he should look for a “real job”.
The new Kick platform has a “great chat” – you have to say that fairly.
In any case, MontanaBlack welcomes the fact that Twitch is now facing competition, because Twitch would do what they want with content creators. Like his friend Elotrix, MontanaBlack compares the “salary cut” for top streamers starting in the summer of 2023 to an employer coming along and telling employees they’ll soon be getting 20% less pay.
Since the 2020 sex ban, MontanaBlack has been seeing Twitch with different eyes
Doesn’t he like Twitch anymore? Not as much as before. MontanaBlack keeps emphasizing that he loves Twitch himself and never imagined leaving the platform. But since an incident in November 2020, the relationship has been in crisis:
MontanaBlack says: Since the incident back then, he sees Twitch with different eyes. Apparently something broke there.
This is behind it: MontanaBlack seems to be mentally preparing for a change.
What he doesn’t tell the fans, but what resonates: As a “controversial” streamer, he now has an attractive option for a lucrative exclusive contract with Kick.
There is no known case that a controversial streamer has received an exclusive contract: most likely DrDisrespect. But his exclusive contract was terminated after a few months by the Twitch ban.
Behind Kick is the online casino Stake. This casino is known for paying extremely large amounts of money to streamers to promote gambling. Therefore, the streaming service has a “moral taste” for many from the start, but it also seems to be developing a certain attraction. Kick doesn’t seem to lack for money.
New times could be dawning for some “difficult” streamers who have had no alternatives to Twitch so far:
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