Image credit: KICK

Kick’s latest initiative, the “KICK Road” campaign, has transformed 1,000 small streamers into a collective group that generated 2.84 million watch hours in just five weeks. 

While competitors chase celebrities with seven-figure deals, this upstart streaming platform has committed $68,000 specifically to creators with fewer than 100 concurrent viewers through the project.

Andrew Santamaria, Head of KICK Studios, sees potential where others see limitations. “This sector is arguably the lifeblood of any platform, and it is the most overlooked,” he explains, referencing the sub-100 CCV creator segment. “I’ve heard other platform CEOs explicitly state, ‘It is just not worth investing our time in small creators.’ I vehemently, rabidly disagree with that.”

Founded in 2022, Kick has built a user base of 57 million by implementing a different approach to creator economics. “Follow the money,” Andrew challenges. “95% goes to the creator, 5% goes to Stripe to process the payment.” This revenue split directly counters claims that infrastructure costs necessitate taking larger percentages. “We’re going to use the exact same infrastructure that you do, and we are going to give you what you deserve. Your creativity will become your currency here.”

The “KICK Road” initiative has emerged as the platform’s most ambitious investment in smaller creators. The challenge will award $5,000 to top performers in six categories (gaming, just chatting, IRL, art, music, and GTA RP), a $20,000 grand prize for the creator with the most overall watch hours, and additional $1,000 prizes for runners-up. 

Beyond monetary rewards, participants receive front-page placement that counts toward verification and partner metrics—exposure that other platforms typically reserve for established streamers.

“The creator economy is highly competitive and can get cutthroat,” Andrew observes. “I see great creators turn on each other in this sector. They take their eye off the prize of becoming a creator.” 

“KICK Road” addresses this by providing a structured environment where creators can benchmark their progress: “Let’s bring you all together so you can see where you’re at in your journey, so you can see your peers who are at 30 CCV compared to peers at 80 CCV, and you can see the drastic difference of what the 80 CCV creators are doing that the 30 CCV creators are not.”

Image credit: KICK

Measuring Real Engagement Beyond Vanity Metrics

To ensure transparency and counter industry-wide issues with metrics manipulation, Kick partnered with Streams Charts to validate participation and results. 

“Streams Charts keeps us honest,” Andrew explains. “Streams Charts tracks everyone’s behavior. We remove people who have inflated, obvious botting views. We also remove people who aren’t in the United States. We also remove people who have violated TOS.”

This focus on genuine interaction is a shift from industry practices that often overlook or even benefit from inflated metrics. Andrew explains, “What happens is that I run commercials, I ignore the view bots, and then I say, ‘Hey, you got 50,000 views on this commercial,’ when I know good and well that 30% of them are bots and the media buyers don’t know any better to question it. So the cycle continues. Money keeps coming through. Inflated views keep coming through. The top creators keep reaching into the top inorganically, and it becomes a pay-to-play system.”

In contrast, “KICK Road” creates a level playing field where genuine community interaction drives success. “The majority of creators want a fair playing field,” Andrew notes. “You just have to provide it for them.”

Creator-First Economics: The Kick Partner Program

Kick’s commitment to small and mid-size creators extends beyond “KICK Road” through its Partner Program, initially developed with input from 33 creators representing various audience sizes. 

“We found creators who are doing good work that have 5 to 10 CCV,” Andrew explains. “Jeremy Worst, who is a top classical-trained artist, who does great gaming art, has a very low CCV, but a very stable audience.”

The barrier to entry is deliberately set lower than industry standards. Where Kick once required 100 CCV for partner status, they’ve reduced it to approximately 75 CCV. More importantly, Kick only requires creators to hit this metric once, not maintain an average over time. “Once you’ve hit 75 CCV, you’ve hit that metric, you’re good,” Andrew emphasizes. “On other platforms, they require an average of a certain number of days.”

The program has already paid out more than $62 million to creators, with over 300 partners transitioning from other platforms and 200 more applications in process. Kick partners don’t run commercials to monetize—”the creator is the commercial,” as Andrew puts it—and can simultaneously stream to platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts while still earning a portion of their Partner revenue.

Fostering Original Content

Building on “KICK Road’s” momentum, the platform has launched “Pitch KICK” to develop original content from creators of all sizes. 

“On our website, you pitch a series of ideas,” Andrew explains. Unlike casual content submissions, “Pitch KICK” requires creators to approach the process professionally. “You must pitch us like a Hollywood studio. You’ve got to give us a synopsis of what this is. You’ve got to give us a reel of who you are and give us dates and times of what you’re doing. You have to get organized.”

This structured approach has sparked creativity among participants who “start generating their own trailers, they start generating their own movie posters” as part of their pitches. Successful concepts—ranging from paranormal investigations to Caribbean sailing adventures —can receive up to twelve 90-minute episodes on Kick’s front page.

The initiative serves as both a creative outlet and a talent incubator. “Out of every hundred pitches, we expect five of them to be winners,” Andrew notes, drawing on his background as a producer with NBC and Turner Broadcasting. “We’ve done it with Ice Poseidon’s ‘Hunger Games.’ We did it with Fousey with his ‘G7’ boxing.”

What differentiates “Pitch KICK” from traditional media development is the creative freedom afforded to creators. “I cannot tell you how as a producer or as an executive producer, how many shows I screwed up on behalf of the studio because studio heads would not let creators just create,” Andrew reflects. “I would have to come back with all these studio notes because an advertiser was pissed off or because an executive was pissed off.”

Image credit: KICK

What’s Next for the Creator Middle Class

By providing favorable economic terms, lowering barriers to entry, and actively supporting overlooked talent, Kick is building a more sustainable ecosystem where emerging creators can thrive.

“The next big streamer has not streamed yet,” Andrew quotes Kick’s CEO and co-founder, Ed Craven. “That streamer starts out at 5 CCV, 10 CCV, 20 CCV. So we’re looking for that person.”

According to Andrew, both Craven and Kick’s other co-founder, Bijan Tehrani, embody this forward-thinking approach. “Eddie and Bijan get this space. They understand what live streaming can do.” He believes this perspective enables Kick to try new approaches where larger competitors remain constrained by outdated business models or corporate priorities.

As Kick continues to develop its initiatives for smaller creators, it’s challenging core assumptions about where value lies in the creator economy.

“Watch what we do,” Andrew concludes. “There’s no smoke and mirrors here. It’s very straightforward.”