# How to Set Up Kick Alerts in OBS in 2026 (Transparent WebM Guide)

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- Canonical page: https://alertforge.ai/blog/how-to-set-up-kick-alerts-in-obs-2026
- Site fact sheet: https://alertforge.ai/llms.txt
- Published: 2026-08-12T06:53:00.214+00:00 · Updated: 2026-08-12T06:53:00.214+00:00
- Author: AlertForge Editorial
- Summary: Learn how to set up kick alerts in OBS with transparent WebM files: follower, subscriber, donation, and host alerts, Media vs Browser Source, and custom design.

Kick has grown into a serious home for live streamers, and one of the first things viewers notice in any new channel is what happens when someone follows, subscribes, donates, or hosts. [Kick alerts](/kick-alerts) are the animations that announce those moments on screen. This guide walks through what Kick alerts are, which events you can cover, and how to get them into OBS Studio using transparent WebM files — with no green screen and no video editing software required.

## What are Kick alerts?

A Kick alert is an animation that plays on stream when a channel event happens. In the same way a Twitch channel uses an alert box, a Kick stream can show a clip when a viewer follows, subscribes, resubscribes, sends a tip, or hosts your channel. The alert usually includes the viewer's name and the event type, and it sits on top of your gameplay or camera as an overlay.

The visual sits in your broadcast software. OBS Studio is the most common choice, but the same transparent video files work in Streamlabs Desktop and other OBS-based software. Event detection — knowing that someone followed — is handled by an alert widget or your own integration, while the animation itself is just media that OBS plays when the event fires. Kick's own help centre describes how the channel dashboard surfaces follows, subscriptions, and hosts in real time ([Understanding your KICK Creator Dashboard](https://help.kick.com/en/articles/7120642-understanding-your-kick-creator-dashboard)), and how to turn on [live notifications](https://help.kick.com/en/articles/7122022-how-to-set-up-kick-live-notifications) so viewers are told when you go live — the event stream your alert setup reacts to.

## The Kick alert types you can create

Most streamers want alerts for the moments that happen most often. On Kick, the common set is:

- Follower alerts, for new follows.
- Subscriber alerts, for new subscriptions and resubscriptions.
- Donation or tip alerts, for monetary support.
- Host alerts, for when your channel is hosted or when you host another streamer.

You do not have to settle for a single generic animation. Because each of these events is a different moment, a complete set gives each one its own motion while keeping the same look. For example, a single approved character and colour palette can guide a follow alert, a subscriber alert, a donation alert, and a host alert so the whole channel feels consistent.

## Kick alerts in OBS: Media Source vs Browser Source

There are two practical ways to play alert media in OBS Studio, and the right choice depends on how the alert is triggered.

**OBS Media Source.** The Media Source plays a video file such as MP4, MOV, MKV, or WebM directly in a scene. OBS's own [Media Sources knowledge base article](https://obsproject.com/kb/media-sources) lists WebM among the supported video formats. If you have a transparent WebM alert, you can drop it into a scene as a Media Source and trigger it manually or with a script. This is the simplest route when you just want to preview a file or trigger it yourself.

**OBS Browser Source.** The Browser Source is literally a web browser embedded in OBS, and it is how most live alert widgets deliver events. OBS's [Browser Source article](https://obsproject.com/kb/browser-source) notes that the browser background is set to transparent by default, so the widget's HTML page can sit over your gameplay. When a viewer follows, the widget's event stream fires and the widget shows your chosen alert media without you touching anything.

The practical answer for most Kick streamers is a mix: generate transparent WebM alert files, then either upload them to an alert widget that supports custom media (such as StreamElements or Streamlabs) and add that widget's Browser Source, or play the WebM directly as an OBS Media Source. The same transparent WebM workflow applies to our [OBS alerts](/obs-alerts) and [Twitch alerts](/twitch-alerts) guides, so the setup you learn here carries over if you stream on more than one platform. Both methods are covered below.

## Option 1: Add transparent WebM alerts as OBS Media Sources

If you want full control and do not need a third-party widget to route events, transparent WebM files can be added straight to OBS.

1. Export or download one transparent WebM file per alert type. The key requirement is that the file carries an alpha channel, so the background is see-through rather than black.
2. In OBS, add a **Media Source** to your scene and point it at the WebM file.
3. Set **Loop** off if you want it to play once, and leave **Restart playback when source becomes active** on so the alert replays cleanly each time. Both are standard [Media Source properties](https://obsproject.com/kb/media-sources).
4. Size the source and place it above your gameplay or camera capture layer, then adjust the position where you want the alert to appear.

Because the file has real transparency, you do not need a chroma key or a green screen. A transparent WebM simply sits over your scene. If you are adding several event types, give each one its own Media Source so you can trigger them independently.

## Option 2: Run alerts through a widget with a Browser Source

The more automatic approach is to let an alert widget handle event detection and playback. Kick does not expose a built-in custom alert animation system the way some platforms do, so most streamers use a widget that is connected to their channel and supports custom media.

1. Upload your transparent WebM alert files to an alert widget that accepts custom media, such as StreamElements or Streamlabs.
2. Connect the widget to your Kick channel so it receives follow, subscribe, and donation events.
3. Copy the widget's overlay URL and add it to OBS as a **Browser Source**. OBS renders the browser page with a transparent background by default, as described in its [Browser Source reference](https://obsproject.com/kb/browser-source).
4. Place the source so its alert animations appear over your stream without blocking the view of your video or camera.

In this setup the widget does two jobs: it watches for the event and it plays the alert media you assigned. That is why the [AlertForge Kick alert guide](/kick-alerts) describes the flow as "design, export, configure, stream" — you design the look, export transparent WebM files, upload them to a widget that supports custom media, and keep that widget's event routing connected to Kick.

## How to make Kick alerts that match your channel

The reason custom alerts matter is that they are built from your own channel instead of pulled from a generic theme catalog. With a generative alert tool, you describe a look — gaming, anime, horror, clean and minimal, or something fully custom — and the AI produces alert media guided by that direction.

For Kick, the practical workflow is:

1. **Start with a creative brief.** Describe the mood, colours, and characters you want, or upload a logo or character you already use.
2. **Approve a style sheet.** The tool generates a reference for your character, palette, and visual direction. You review and approve it before paying to render anything.
3. **Generate the alert set.** Follower, subscriber, donation, and host alerts are generated against the same approved direction, so the whole set looks like one family.
4. **Export as transparent WebM.** Each alert downloads as an alpha-channel WebM file, ready for OBS or a custom-media widget.
5. **Review every result.** Generative outputs vary, so it is worth checking each alert before you put it live.

AlertForge follows this exact model for Kick. Its [Kick alert maker](/kick-alerts) describes the events it covers — follower, subscriber, donation, and host — and exports transparent WebM files for OBS, StreamElements, or Streamlabs. The character reference and art direction guide every generation, and each result is meant to be reviewed as a set before use. If you also want a full overlay to match, the same approved direction can be used for [animated overlay scenes](/animated-overlay) such as Starting Soon, BRB, Just Chatting, Ending, and Offline, plus profile panels, emotes, badges, a stinger, and a cam frame.

## Kick alert sound design

Sound is part of the alert experience, but it is not always bundled the way you expect. Two things matter here.

First, if your alert tool generates audio with the visuals, the foley and ambience are matched to the motion rather than stitched on afterwards. That can feel more cohesive than grabbing a random sound effect.

Second, you do not have to keep the bundled sound. Because a transparent WebM can contain no audio track, you can render an alert silent and pair it with your own sound alerts inside your widget. That is a clean way to keep your existing audio branding while changing the visuals. The AlertForge Kick FAQ notes that audio is generated with the visuals, and that you can also render silent and pair the WebM with your own sound alerts in StreamElements or Streamlabs.

## Common Kick alert setup problems

- **The alert shows a black box instead of transparency.** This usually means the file does not actually carry an alpha channel, or you are playing an opaque format. Use a transparent WebM (VP9 with alpha) rather than a file that flattens the background to black.
- **The browser source blocks your view.** If a Browser Source overlay covers your gameplay, the widget's HTML may have an opaque background. OBS sets the default browser background to transparent ([Browser Source](https://obsproject.com/kb/browser-source)), but a widget with its own solid background will not be see-through. Place the source correctly and check the widget's transparency setting.
- **The alert does not fire when someone follows.** Event detection is the widget's job, not the video file's. Make sure your widget is connected to your Kick channel and that you assigned the correct media to the correct event.
- **The animation loops when you do not want it to.** For a Media Source, turn Loop off and use "restart when source becomes active" so the alert plays once per trigger ([Media Sources](https://obsproject.com/kb/media-sources)).
- **The look does not match across events.** If each alert was made separately without a shared reference, they will not feel like one set. Generating all event types against one approved style sheet avoids this.

## Kick alerts and your broader stream identity

Alerts are only one layer of a channel's look. Once you have an approved visual direction, the same character, palette, and typography can carry across your Starting Soon, Just Chatting, BRB, and Offline scenes, your profile panels, emotes, sub badges, stinger transition, and cam frame. Doing it in one pass with a shared reference is how streamers keep a channel feeling professional instead of assembled from unrelated packs.

If you are new to Kick, it is worth treating the alert set as part of a wider identity project: define the look once, approve it, and then render the pieces you need against that same direction. That is the approach AlertForge takes with its [Stream Identity packs](/animated-overlay), where a single approved style sheet guides the scenes, alerts, panels, and other included assets. You can start with a free style sheet and only pay when you decide to render. For more on the underlying format, our [transparent WebM alerts for OBS guide](/blog/transparent-webm-alerts-obs-2026) covers alpha-channel setup in depth.

## Sources

- OBS Studio Knowledge Base — Browser Source: https://obsproject.com/kb/browser-source
- OBS Studio Knowledge Base — Media Sources: https://obsproject.com/kb/media-sources
- Kick Help Center — Understanding your KICK Creator Dashboard: https://help.kick.com/en/articles/7120642-understanding-your-kick-creator-dashboard
- Kick Help Center — How to set up KICK live notifications: https://help.kick.com/en/articles/7122022-how-to-set-up-kick-live-notifications