Kick has reached 100 million users, a milestone co-founder Bijan Tehrani marked with measured candor. 

“100M is a fun milestone and I’m proud of how far our team has come,” he wrote on X. “But ultimately it’s a vanity as we aren’t where we need to or should be.”

Tehrani attributed the platform’s shortcomings to decisions made at launch. “When we launched Kick, we rushed to market,” he wrote. “We shipped with weak plumbing, purchased tech, and lacked experience in streaming.” He said the company has spent roughly three years rebuilding its infrastructure while maintaining operations simultaneously.

Infrastructure Rebuild and App Overhaul Underway

Tehrani revealed that the rebuild is nearing completion. On the mobile experience, he was direct: “We know our app sucks.” He said a fully native rebuild is in progress and that he has been personally involved in overseeing it. “Don’t worry, we aren’t going to pull a Twitch here and full TikTokify,” he added.

The platform has also restructured its creator partnerships. Tehrani noted that Kick ended what he described as “Saudi level contracts” that generated short-term growth at the expense of content quality and long-term viability. The company said that it has since improved its unit economics while continuing to grow viewership.

Moderation and Discovery Reforms in Progress

Tehrani said Kick has removed and rejected thousands of accounts from its Kick Partner Program for viewbotting and system abuse, and deleted tens of millions of fake spam accounts. The company is rolling out a V1 discovery algorithm, currently active for 10% of users, which Tehrani said will prioritize authentic engagement over bot-inflated metrics.

On advertising, Kick has begun rolling out ads with a stated commitment to minimizing disruption to the streamer and viewer experience.

Platform Growth Compared to Rivals

Kick recorded a 131% increase in hours watched in 2025, reaching 4.5 billion hours and capturing approximately 12% of the total live streaming market, according to Stream Hatchet. 

That positioned Kick as the third-largest live streaming platform by hours watched, behind Twitch at 52% and YouTube Gaming at 24%. Unique channel count grew 68% to 1.8 million. Among creators streaming more than 1,000 hours on Kick in 2025, 27% averaged more than 100 viewers per airtime minute, nearly double the 14% figure recorded in 2024.

Kick’s revenue structure has also drawn creators to the platform. The company offers a 95/5 subscription revenue split, compared to Twitch’s default 50/50.

Investment and Outlook

Tehrani said he and co-founder Eddie Craven have collectively invested close to $1 billion in the platform. “100M users on a broken foundation was the hard part,” he wrote. “For what comes next we’re ready and more motivated than ever.”

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