The competitive landscape of the live streaming industry is currently undergoing a notable transformation, characterized by significant shifts in audience engagement across major platforms. Recent data highlights a clear divergence in trajectories between some of the key players, signaling potential changes in market dominance.
According to statistics compiled by StreamsCharts, the second quarter of 2025 marked a period of substantial acceleration for the Kick streaming platform. Between April and June of that year, Kick recorded a remarkable 1.107 billion hours of watched content. This figure represents a considerable increase of 28% compared to the first quarter of 2025, positioning Kick as the fastest-growing platform in terms of viewership during this period.
Conversely, Twitch, a long-established leader in the live streaming space, is experiencing a period of retraction. While still commanding a larger absolute audience than Kick, Twitch`s viewership has seen a decline for the third consecutive quarter. This sustained downturn indicates potential challenges for the platform in maintaining its historical levels of audience engagement amidst increased competition.
Within the broader context of the live streaming market, YouTube continues to hold an overwhelming majority share, accounting for over 50% of all viewing hours. TikTok occupies the second position in the overall ranking. Twitch is currently positioned third, while Kick sits in fourth place. Despite Kick`s lower rank in total viewing hours compared to YouTube and TikTok, and still trailing Twitch in absolute numbers, its rapid growth rate stands out, suggesting it is actively reducing the gap to its competitors in the ranking.
The data underscores an evolving dynamic in the live streaming ecosystem. The aggressive growth trajectory of platforms like Kick, coupled with the consistent decline observed on Twitch, suggests an intensification of the battle for viewer attention and market share. Industry observers will be closely monitoring whether these trends persist and how they will influence creator and audience migration patterns in the future.
