Providing a convenient platform for adult content creators
While it may be seen as a sensitive topic by many, adult content platforms are a dime a dozen on the internet. Still, OnlyFans presented an alternative, serving up a more social media-like style of delivering content but with a paywall requiring people to subscribe to see the content.
Most mainstream social media platforms prohibit any type of adult content, making it difficult for adult content creators to promote themselves and engage with their audiences.
Understandably, those platforms would want to keep things relatively PG as free platforms with a younger audience present and advertisers to answer to. However, it posed an issue for those who wanted to put out more risqué content and still interact with their audience in that typical social media style we're all used to.
In comes OnlyFans, making it easy for these types of creators to monetize their work and leverage the power of social media to rapidly grow their audiences.
The business model looks simple - users can post whatever images or videos they want with minimal restriction and set a subscription fee for access - but if you dig a little deeper, it's much more than that. Let's take a closer look.
The Unique Business Model Behind Only Fans
Launched initially as a platform for creators to share with only those willing to subscribe, OnlyFans started out somewhat like Patreon. But with some unique differences and significant advantages.
While we all know and understand a subscription-based model and users are used to paying them for streaming services like Netflix or Hulu, with OnlyFans, users can pick and choose who they want to subscribe to and support. In addition, creators can create a free tier to give potential subscribers who sign up a bit of a preview for free, which can be an extremely effective marketing tactic.
But even a subscription-based model that allows adult content is nothing new; how is OnlyFans truly unique? It's in the more social media-like way it allows creators and their "fans" to interact. And even better? The way creators can monetize those more personal interactions.
While subscribers can like and comment on content posted on OnlyFans, they can also interact with the creator directly via messages. And (here's where the money comes in!) creators can charge for people to be able to see the messages they send. That's right, creators can send messages (usually containing photos or video), allowing them to only be seen when the receiver pays a fee of $5 or more.
Creators that interact with their subscribers regularly make most of their money in this aspect, not necessarily in the subscription income alone. It also allows creators with a small following to make more money, even if they don't have a large audience paying their subscription fee.
Adding this type of ability to personally connect, with the added technology to monetize it effectively with a credit card already on file for the subscription fee, has really set OnlyFans apart from its competitors. In fact, this specific feature has allowed OnlyFan's top earners to literally earn millions. And OnlyFans, who takes a 20% cut of all transactions, also reaps the rewards.
OnlyFans has developed a truly unique and revolutionary business model that allows millions of people to make money on their own terms in an industry with virtually endless opportunities.
Pandemic Fueled Growth and Opportunities
While we all remember the impactful year 2020 was, with many of us hoping to simply forget it happened, the pandemic was a major catalyst in the growth of OnlyFans.
With people locked up in their homes and unable to go out and entertain themselves, many people turned to the internet for entertainment and interaction with others. In fact, the online adult content industry was booming during this time.
It's almost as if it was the perfect storm of a perfectly positioned audience stuck at home coupled with those who needed to make an income searching for ways to earn money online so they could cover their bills until things returned to "normal."
It seemed like everyone, from those already in the adult entertainment industry to celebrities and social media influencers wanted to try their luck on OnlyFans. And many of them quickly saw the potential, with some people quickly earning more than they did at their previous day jobs.
During this time, OnlyFans exploded. In fact, OnlyFans grew by 553% year over year during the pandemic, resulting in $2.4 billion in transactions and increasing their user base from 20 million to 120 million. It's likely that without the pandemic, OnlyFans wouldn't have had the leverage to see such explosive growth.
