"It's not a difficult business model to sustain" - Kick's co-founder claims the platform made profit in the first quarter

On April 16, 2023, content creator Big E got together with Kick's co-founder Ed "Eddie" Craven on a voice call. As the duo conversed, the former mentioned the online community claiming that the platform would not be sustainable in the long run due to high operating costs.

Hearing this, Craven revealed that Kick has already made a profit in its first quarter, thanks to "one strategic partnership." He went on to say that if done correctly, creating a livestreaming platform is "not a difficult" business model to run:

"It's not a difficult business model to sustain, if you're doing it correctly. I think there is a way to go about this. I think, as long as people understand that there is a long-term roadmap out there, that we are very comfortable with doubling down on. I really look forward to seeing what's achieveable."

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"People doubting is kind of interesting" - Kick's co-founder talks about long-term sustainability

The discussion began when Big E mentioned that people were skeptical of the platform because it would cost "eight to 10 times more" to run. He referred to these remarks as "online-generated flak":

"Now everybody is like, 'How come Kick is going to be sustainable,' because it's costing them eight to 10 times more to hold the stuff. So, I just wanted to point out that it's really reassuring to have, like, real dialog and conversation to understand, like, what most of this stuff is. Half the time it's just online-generated flak."

When Ed Craven heard this, he responded by revealing that Kick made a profit in its first quarter:

"I'll tell you. Honestly, right now, so Kick has only been around for three to four months. Right? We saw a profit in Q1. We saw a profit in Q1 just through one strategic partnership. Right? That's all right. That's all it takes."

After claiming that running a livestreaming platform was not a difficult business model to sustain, Craven continued further and stated:

"I think all the people sort of doubting it is kind of interesting. And I think everyone doubting it less every month that goes by. It's the kind of a thing that can only last a week, two weeks, three weeks, four weeks. And it's going to go on. But I think people are skeptical for the right reasons."

Ed Craven also addressed the "biggest misconception" about the livestreaming business:

"Like I said, we are not taking people's subscription money. All that kind of stuff isn't what makes livestreaming sustainable. That is the biggest misconception of them all. The misconception of us overpaying certain costs. Like, there is absolutely no issue right now on Kick's sustainability."

The clip concluded with Kick's co-founder saying that the platform is currently in talks with some people:

"I can tell you that right now, as someone who, like, we're trying to make some- we're making two-three deals right now with people, right? That should go to show that us as a company, we're not worried about sustainability."

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Fans react to Ed Craven's revelation about Kick's sustainability

Ed Craven's conversation with Big E was a highly upvoted post on the r/LivestreamFail subreddit. With over 505 Redditors weighing in, here's a snapshot of some relevant comments:

Redditors discussing Ed Craven's statements regarding the livestreaming platform (Image via r/LivestreamFail)

While one Redditor estimated how much it would cost Kick to host a six-hour-long high-quality broadcast, another community member commented that profit was "meaningless," because the platform is a "vehicle to push online gambling."