Kick CEO confirms the platform will turn on ads “at some point”

If you prefer Kick to Twitch because you don’t like it when commercials interrupt a stream, then get your ad-free viewing in now while you still can. Kick CEO Ed Craven recently indicated that the platform won’t be ad-free forever. In-stream spots are coming “at some point” in the future.

Craven commented on Kick ads during a live-streamed interview. “Kick will have ads at some point,” Craven said, “so enjoy the ad-free experience while it lasts.”

Kick’s ad-free status (except for banner ads) makes it unique when compared to rivals like Twitch and YouTube Gaming. Its link to gambling company Stake gave it a financial lift upon its 2022 launch, but Craven has long claimed that Kick will need to run ads to achieve long-term profitability. He said his company “loses a little bit of money” at the moment.

Even if Kick viewers appreciate the ad-free experience the platform currently offers, they must acknowledge that the platform can only compete in the competitive streaming landscape by generating more revenue for its creators. Kick’s early success was driven by big-money, exclusive contracts that drew in big names from Twitch

and elsewhere. That strategy proved tricky to sustain, and these days, Kick’s exclusive deals are limited to streamers like Mizkif who have become pariahs on other platforms.

In other words, if Kick doesn’t want to run into the same problem Vine encountered a decade ago, it needs to find a more sustainable monetization structure than splashy, one-off contracts. Ads can provide that sense of sustainability, but they also come with drawbacks. Craven acknowledged that his team wants to develop an ad format “that isn’t overtly intrusive,” so that the viewers who appreciate the current ad-free experience aren’t hung out to dry completely.

That’s no small task, but Craven is giving his employees plenty of time to find a solution. There’s still no exact timetable for the launch of Kick ads, so the platform will remain a blissful ad-free oasis in the near future.