Club Takes 20% of Creator Payments. Kick Still Markets 95% on Subs and No Direct Pay on Ads

Business Insider reported on 19 August that Club makes money by taking a 20% cut of the payments creators collect. That is not a Kick rate change, and Club has not disclosed GMV or a payout pool.

The 20% did not come from Club’s launch release, which never states a take rate. Business Insider originated it in press, in a piece built around an interview with CEO Henrik Pohlmann. Club’s own terms are stricter than the recap: “Regardless of mechanism, 80% of the payment made by Users will be sent to the Creator. Club will retain the remaining 20%.” The creator FAQ calls it “a flat 20% platform fee on all transactions.” Pohlmann is not quoted saying “20%.”

The same week, the livestreaming app those founders still operate keeps a different card. Kick’s help page, dated 19 July, says a $5 subscription pays the streamer $4.75 and takes $0.25 “as a processing fee, meaning Kick takes no percentage of your earnings.” That 95/5 applies to subscriptions and to KICKs and Gifts. It does not apply to ads.

Kick turned on Kick Ads on 4 August, per GamesBeat and Mumbrella’s report of the company release. The creator help page is plain: “Ads themselves do not currently generate direct additional payment.” Creators cannot opt out. Pohlmann told Business Insider Club “plans to be ad-free.” Club’s terms still reserve “the sale of advertising, sponsorships, promotions, and usage data” and say creators “will have no right to share in any such revenue.”

Business Insider compared Club’s 20% to OnlyFans and to Substack’s and Patreon’s 10% platform fees, noting Patreon also charges processing. Those are BI’s comparisons, not a current Patreon filing. Club’s guidelines, not the PR, are the source on sexual content: “explicit sexual content is not permitted on the platform.”

Tehrani and Craven are named as Club co-founders and as the team behind Kick and Stake. Pohlmann told Business Insider Club is “independent of Kick.” No Club filing produced for this draft shows Easygo, Kick, or Stake as the owner. Scale figures are company-claimed: roughly 3,000 creators to BI, 100,000 beta members, 90% creator retention after account creation, and a $10 million Club.com purchase in the PR.

What is not public is the volume the 20% is taken from, the payout pool, whether the cut is gross or net of processing, how it applies to ClubCash tips the terms say are not a remittance, or whether Kick Ads stay at no direct creator pay.