Twitch Viewership Declines as Competitor Kick Achieves Significant Milestone

Twitch has encountered significant challenges in the second quarter of 2025, with its rival platform Kick achieving a notable milestone by surpassing 1 billion hours watched for the first time. This development marks a pivotal moment in the ongoing competition between these livestreaming platforms.

Recent data from StreamsCharts reveals that in Q2 2025, livestream viewership across all platforms amounted to 29.61 billion hours, reflecting a modest decline of 0.6% compared to the previous quarter. While the overall landscape of the streaming industry remains stable, Twitch’s position appears increasingly precarious.

YouTube Live continues to assert its dominance, holding more than 50% of the market’s watch time with a total of 14.83 billion hours streamed, mirroring its performance from Q1. The most significant shift, however, has been observed at Kick, which experienced a remarkable 28.1% increase in viewership quarter-over-quarter, bolstered by a rising demand for gaming content and a packed schedule of football entertainment.

Twitch, on the other hand, is grappling with its third consecutive quarterly decline. Data from StreamsCharts indicates that the Amazon-owned platform has seen reductions in both its average channels and viewers, contributing to a decline in total hours watched. Furthermore, Twitch’s market share has dwindled by an additional 0.9% during this quarter.

The Impact of Multistreaming on Twitch’s Decline

The success of Kick is intricately linked to the setbacks faced by Twitch, and one significant factor contributing to Twitch’s struggles is the rise of multistreaming. Following the relaxation of its exclusivity policies, many prominent creators have begun to simulcast their content across multiple platforms.

A case in point is Brazilian sensation Gaules, who transitioned from being a Twitch-exclusive streamer to also broadcasting on YouTube in mid-2024. During the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025, his YouTube audience nearly doubled that on Twitch, illustrating how the viewership was simply redistributed rather than increased.

streaming data for youtube, kick and twitch — StreamsCharts

Bijan Tehrani, co-founder of Kick, publicly addressed Twitch’s past regulatory decisions, particularly the ban of his co-founder Ed Craven, remarking on how this spurred the creation of Kick amidst skepticism from the community.“Three years ago, Twitch banned my co-founder’s account and reduced creator revenue share. In response, we launched Kick, which many deemed unable to compete with Twitch. Today, Kick exceeded 25% market share against Twitch for the first time, ”he noted.

3 years ago Twitch banned my co-founder’s account and slashed all creator rev share. In response we launched @KickStreaming which everyone laughed at and said could never rival twitch. Today Kick reached >25% market share against Twitch for the first time pic.twitter.com/C6ngaDfm9x

— Bijan Tehrani (@BijanTehrani) July 10, 2025

Kick’s ascent is also bolstered by attracting top-tier talent, notably securing Asmongold, one of Twitch’s highest-viewed North American streamers. His multi-platform strategy has led him to become the most-watched creator globally in Q2 2025.

As YouTube maintains its foothold and Kick continues its rapid growth, Twitch faces heightened pressure to retain both its talented creators and its audience base in a changing digital landscape.

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