Is Kick's Gaming Platform better than Twitch, YouTube & Facebook?

When we think about live streaming for video games a few core platforms come to mind (Twitch, YouTube Gaming, Facebook Gaming, and Kick). They are all competing to gain the best streamers for their platforms to attract more viewers to their websites. My goal is to understand which platforms are better for viewers searching for content creators. I have used various platforms to look for new content creators who are new and interesting!

If you do not know about video game streaming platforms, understanding why people are so engaged with them is important. As YouTube was growing in 2005 it paved the way for new platforms to open up and launch into this space with a niche focus. Twitch launched shortly after and became a top website for people who wanted to livestream their actions (mainly playing video games and chatting). Twitch is still known as the top place people go to watch creators live stream but other platforms are still gaining ground. Hopefully, this helps give insight into where you can watch, and possibly stream video games.

Let's start with Twitch because we have already talked about them. Since Twitch has been around well before the other platforms, they average 1.8 million viewers during a set time and 3.84 million streamers have streamed on the platform. This gives them an advantage for people looking for new creators because of the options. It does make it hard to get discovered on the platform but they have decent revenue and subscription channels. Twitch views everything as a business which could be tough to get around because they sometimes prioritize what the viewers/streamers want.   Now they do have major streamers and large names on the platform but if you are looking for smaller streamers you can filter by viewer count and by category. Overall, Twitch is a great place to get started because you can give bits (money for streamers) or subscribe (get monthly bonuses from Steamer) with nice ease. It is a smooth process. 

Now we can dive into YouTube Gaming/Live. Everyone has heard of YouTube for videos anyone can upload, but they are also working to grow their live streaming platform. Now, this platform is newer to the Live/Gaming area but they are focused on expanding it to overtake Twitch eventually. They are starting to put in more ways for viewers to give back to the streamers they watch such as joining the channel and becoming a member or providing super chat. YouTube gaming's large pro area is the revenue stream and library of content that can be used with YouTube. For example, when a person finishes streaming then can live upload it to YouTube so people can watch later. They can also create a larger reach of audience since YouTube connects people from all over the world. YouTube still has trouble working out. They have fewer emotes and engagement in chats with creators. Hopefully, they can smooth these areas out.

The next focus is Facebook Gaming/Live. This service is also newer but is an easy-to-use platform that is focused on the ease of sharing videos and content. Streamers can easily share content with gaming groups to grow their audience. For a normal viewer, it is easy to go on Facebook and just watch someone streaming using their phone. This makes the service simple, but there are some concerns. The analytic reporting, interaction tools, and audience size can be lacking on Facebook. Not as many people are flocking to this service to watch gamers. Within 2021 Facebook Gaming created an average of 527,000 monthly viewers per each month. If we compare that to Twitch which was around 2.78 Million Concurrent viewers we can see there is a large difference. This system is still developing, so hopefully, it grows down the line.

The last one to talk about is Kick. We have used the term newer services, but Kick is one of the freshest. Kick launched in 2022 in direct competition with Twitch. People were upset with how Twitch was treating its creators and running its platform so Kick was created. The goal of Kick is to give more revenue back to the streamers and looser moderation on what the site allows. Twitch started as a gaming platform and turned into a website that would allow people to stream anything, even themselves in hot tubs. Twitch started putting some restrictions on this such as blocking streamers from showing gambling on the platform. Kick has been referred to as the “Wild West” of content and streamers because anything goes. Gambling is allowed on the platform and so is other content. Kick is still very new and expanding into new areas as they learn what works and does not work for the streamers and viewers. 

Overall, there is no bad platform. Each person needs to decide what works best for them when it comes to streaming or viewing content. As I always say, find the person or people you like and use the service that works best. Hopefully, this helped to gain insight into each main channel. There are other platforms but these are the core ones.