Dota 2 pro Dendi sign sponser deal with Kick for B8

Danil “Dendi” Ishutin has announced that Kick would sponsor B8, and the streaming service is now identified as the organization’s primary sponsor in all of the games in which it participates.

Dota 2 star Dendi has signed a new deal with Kick that will make the streaming site the title sponsor of his organization, B8. The renowned players will also be streaming on Kick, Twitch’s competitor website as part of the deal, though it’s unclear if there will be any exclusivity. Dendi revealed his recently created Kick account and hinted at an impending debut broadcast in which he probably would talk more about his Kick sponsorship and team’s early exit from the ESL One Kuala Lumpur qualifications.

Joining @KickStreaming !First stream coming soon – don’t miss out: https://t.co/GLJl1kEDuR

On top of that, KICK is now the title sponsor of @B8esportsGG

The last year and a half have been challenging for B8 and I’m happy that we have a partner that helps us pursue what we love pic.twitter.com/RKo1sNNvfw

— Danil Ishutin (@DendiBoss) November 16, 2023

Kick is B8’s official sponsor

Dendi’s B1 has had little success since its start and failed miserably in Division II, showing no signs of improvement. The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine presented several difficulties for B1, to the point where the team was forced to switch territories to play in the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit in North America owing to a lack of sponsors. After a region hop, B8’s performance improved significantly. The team maintained their Division I spot and came extremely close to earning a TI12 spot through the Open Qualifiers. But now that the new team is playing in Europe once more, their time in NA has also ended.

Though their results were not always constant, B8 was by far the most well-liked team in NA qualifiers, which made them an intriguing option for Kick. Furthermore, as he keeps trying to assemble a competitive roster, Dendi’s content has allowed him to remain relevant as a top Dota 2 streamer. According to TwitchTracker, Dendi has over a million followers and an average of 2,500 viewers on Twitch, making him a viable target for developing platforms like Kick.

Kick has been putting a lot of effort into positioning itself as a serious player in the streaming market. With prominent additions like xQc and NICKMERCS, Adin Ross, Amouranth, and YouRAGE, Kick has been aggressively seeking more broadcasters to counter the dominance of sites like Twitch and YouTube. Kick recently welcomed UFC great and five-time championship winner Max Halloway and Shopify Rebellion player Artour “Arteezy” Babaev.

Since most prominent Twitch streamers have contracts without exclusivity, they are free to continue broadcasting on many platforms when they switch to Kick. Kick’s approach also emphasizes helping ambitious small-to-medium-sized streamers, suggesting a more comprehensive goal to promote platform and community growth.

B8’s current Dota 2 roster