Kick's co-founder says 500 viewbot abusers were behind 13% of the platform's monthly watch hours, per Bijan Tehrani on X. Then Kick posted a record quarter anyway. Tehrani's May purge cut 67 million fake monthly hours, and Streams Charts now has Kick at 2.04 billion hours watched in Q3, up 30.7%. For creators pricing sponsorships on views, the real lesson is uglier: nobody outside Kick can say how much of that number is still fake.
⚡ Key Takeaways
- Kick co-founder Bijan Tehrani says 500 banned viewbot abusers drove 67M fake monthly watch hours, about 13% of the platform's total.
- He later said another 12M+ hours' worth had been banned, and claimed the cleanup saves Kick "tens of millions per year."
- Kick still posted a record 2.04B hours watched in Q3 2026, up 30.7%, narrowing Twitch's lead from about 2.8x to 2.2x.
- The 13% is unaudited: no list, no methodology, and critics say no big names were banned.
- Co-founder Eddie Craven admits Kick can't ban every botter, and bots get "smarter" once caught.
- Takeaway for creators: price yourself on what fans pay, not on a view counter.
What actually happened?
On May 20, 2026, Tehrani posted on X that Kick had banned "the 500 worst abusers" on the platform, accounts he said were responsible for 67 million inauthentic recurring monthly watch hours. In the same thread he called that figure outdated, adding that another 12M+ hours' worth had been banned since and the work was ongoing. He also said an algorithm update prioritizing authentic viewership would fully roll out over the following week.
Two days later, Win.gg reported Tehrani's claim that the crackdown would save Kick "tens of millions per year," money he said would go to clipping, KPP, and events. Spilled.gg flagged the obvious gap: no list of banned accounts was released, and it's unclear whether the bans hit streamer channels, bot accounts, or whole bot networks.
Five months on, the scoreboard looks great for Kick. Streams Charts says Kick hit 2.04 billion hours watched in Q3 2026, its third straight quarter of growth, while Twitch did 4.51 billion. According to PPC Land, the gap narrowed from roughly 2.8x in Q2 to about 2.2x in Q3.
| Metric | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Viewbot abusers banned (May) | 500 | Bijan Tehrani on X |
| Fake monthly watch hours removed | 67M+ (plus 12M+ more) | Bijan Tehrani on X |
| Share of Kick monthly watch hours | ~13% | Bijan Tehrani on X |
| Kick Q3 2026 hours watched | 2.04B (+30.7% QoQ) | Streams Charts |
| Twitch Q3 2026 hours watched | 4.51B | Streams Charts |
Why does this matter for creators?
Viewership is the soft currency of livestreaming. Sponsors price on concurrents, agencies pitch on hours watched, and platforms sell their growth to creators thinking about switching. When a co-founder says 13% of his platform's watch time was fake, every viewership number from that platform needs an asterisk: yours, your rival's, and the headline growth.
"We've so far banned the 500 worst abusers from Kick responsible for 67 million inauthentic recurring monthly watch hours (~13%)"
Bijan Tehrani, Kick co-founder, on X
And that 13% isn't audited. It comes from one executive, with no methodology, no published list, and no independent check. It's also 13% of recurring monthly hours at one moment, not all-time or quarterly. Critics quoted by Win.gg said none of the biggest names were banned.
Co-founder Eddie Craven basically confirmed the ceiling on Nov 3. Per Win.gg, he said Kick can see who is botting in its data, but banning every offender would leave too few active channels, so it targets systematic abusers, strips monetary incentives, and accepts that bots get "smarter" once caught. That's refreshingly candid. It's also an admission that the counter will never be clean.
What's the bigger picture?
Credit where it's due: the math says the purge didn't erase Kick's growth. If 67 million hours was 13%, Kick was doing roughly 515 million monthly hours, about 1.55 billion a quarter, which lines up with its implied Q2 total of about 1.56 billion. The 30.7% Q3 jump happened after the bans, while the overall market tracked by Streams Charts grew only about 0.8%.
The honest question isn't whether Kick is growing. It's how much botting is still baked into the count, and nobody outside Kick can measure that. Kick isn't uniquely guilty either: Win.gg notes Twitch has started capping live concurrent viewership for viewbotters. Every platform's view counter is a self-reported number, and the industry still prices deals on it like it's audited revenue.
What does Fanvault think?
Fanvault's view is simple: view counts are a negotiating tool, not a paycheck, so creators should anchor their value on money fans actually pay through tiered memberships, paywalled posts, paid DMs and custom requests, tips, wishlists, and a storefront with auctions and buy-it-now drops of authenticated memorabilia. Fanvault takes 8% and creators keep 92%, compared with Fanvue at 15%, Passes at 10% plus 30 cents, and Fanfix at about 20%. For streamers especially, a sold-out drop or a paid membership is a number no bot farm can fake.
Kick scrubbed 13% of its watch time and still grew 30.7%. Good for Kick. Creators should still get paid in something a bot can't counterfeit.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many viewbot accounts did Kick ban?
Kick co-founder Bijan Tehrani said on X that Kick banned the 500 worst abusers, responsible for 67 million inauthentic recurring monthly watch hours. He added that another 12M+ hours' worth had been banned since and the effort was ongoing.
Were 13% of Kick's views fake?
According to Tehrani, the banned accounts accounted for about 13% of Kick's recurring monthly watch hours at the time. That figure comes only from Kick, with no published methodology or independent audit, and it doesn't describe all-time or quarterly totals.
Did Kick's growth survive the viewbot purge?
Yes, by the reported numbers. Streams Charts says Kick hit a record 2.04 billion hours watched in Q3 2026, up 30.7% from Q2, after the May bans. How much botting remains in that count can't be verified from outside Kick.
Can Kick ban every viewbotter?
Not according to co-founder Eddie Craven. Per Win.gg, he said banning every offender would leave too few active channels, so Kick targets systematic abusers and removes monetary incentives, while bots get "smarter" after they're caught.