14 Oct Chasing the Whale: The Reality of Adult Industry Income
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in Industry Knowledge
The buzz surrounding the success of many creators on OnlyFans has embedded itself into the mainstream. Quips such as “Well, I should start an OnlyFans” when the lunch bill arrives at the table have infiltrated more social groups than references to any other porn platform. Putting aside the casual remarks about the adult industry, which also contain an air of whorephobia, an important conversation remains to be had: are the stories about OnlyFans creators’ mega pay-checks true? Is chasing vast income on one site a sound strategy for success?
“THE ONLYFANS REPORT”
In September 2024, OnlyFans released their financial records for the fiscal year ending November 30, 2023. This data release was part of a UK regulatory filing and contained information of interest to content creators and the adult industry. The overall figures were extremely impressive, with OnlyFans reporting “record revenue and profits” for the 2023 fiscal year, including an increase in the number of creators using the platform increasing by 29% for a total of 4.12 million. Furthermore, gross payments made through the OnlyFans platform for this period increased by 19%, as reported by OnlyFans’ parent company, Fenix International, resulting in total payments of $6.63 billion for the reporting period.
Although these overall numbers are remarkable, the really interesting data was how that translates to income for individual creators. Creators on the platform earned total payouts of $5.32 billion for the most recent fiscal year, with individual creators receiving a “mean average” of just under $1,300 for the year. Although this number seems a little low at first glance and seems to fly in the face of individual creators publicising record profits of their own, the reporting obscures the statistics underneath. The mean average of payments to creators is not as useful a statistic as the median. For the maths nerds who are interested in this stuff, datasets such as the income of creators on OnlyFans are skewed by the fact there are a lot of unused or underused accounts. Conversely, there are accounts which are raking it in. The median is a statistic that knocks out all that data, which isn’t useful due to it outlying from the majority of the data and is, therefore, more informative than the average of ALL the data.
This figure of content creator income was provided for UK regulatory requirements and, therefore, is not designed to be used and interpreted by models when it comes to their content strategy or evaluating their success on the platform. However, it does give the following food for thought…
CHASING THE WHALE
For models who only work through one platform, such as OnlyFans, there are a few factors to keep in mind. Although OnlyFans has demonstrated impressive profits over time, there still is a lot of data missing from what has been provided. This means it needs to be interpreted with caution. The average payments made to creators is comparatively low but does not consider the issues I mentioned about skewed data. Furthermore, it does not give a picture for how the payments are generated (e.g. are they for subscriptions, messaging, tips, or unlocking of posts?) and, more importantly, how OnlyFans ties into an overall content strategy for adult models. Although OnlyFans only refers to the adult content of their platform in an oblique manner, many adult models well-established on other platforms also use the site as part of their platform portfolio. OnlyFans does not allow creators to advertise other platforms. This provides additional cover for the site not wanting to lean in hard to the adult industry, and it is also designed to try to keep all profits limited to their platform.
Access to site data and user analytics has historically been an issue for adult content creators, as there is a tendency for sites to assume that models will not find this useful. However, this underestimates the content and marketing strategies employed by adult models. In the absence of access to good data, other ways of informing business practices need to be used.
LEVERAGING ALL AVAILABLE PLATFORMS
The reality is that with such a hostile internet environment, adult content creators need to be supported to diversify and have content on multiple platforms. As we have seen in recent years, sites can be shut down overnight, leaving creators to scramble to find other means of income generation. Most platforms do not accept this reality of content creation, as it flies in the face of generating as much profit as possible for site owners. Although sites do work together algorithmically to promote creators’ content (e.g. after watching a video on PornHub, you may be recommended the account of the creator on OnlyFans), they do not fully embrace supporting creators to make income on multiple platforms. Or even use their platform to find and leverage the audience for another platform. Although this is in keeping with a sound business model on their part, it is not in the best interests of individual models trying to make a living in a volatile workplace. Sites that acknowledge the environment models are working in and provide a supportive platform for them to develop are contributing not only to the success of individuals but also to positive shifts in the industry as a whole.
Rem Sequence is an Australian adult content creator, blogger, and internationally published alt model. She has a background in psychology, philosophy and political science and worked in health and sex education, youth work and trauma counselling for almost two decades. Now, she works full time in the adult industry, as well as indulging her passion for arts, writing and music in numerous side projects.
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The buzz surrounding the success of many creators on OnlyFans has embedded itself into the mainstream. Quips such as “Well, I should start an OnlyFans” when the lunch bill arrives at the table have infiltrated more social groups than references to any other porn platform. Putting aside the casual remarks about the adult industry, which also contain an air of whorephobia, an important conversation remains to be had: are the stories about OnlyFans creators’ mega pay-checks true? Is chasing vast income on one site a sound strategy for success?
“THE ONLYFANS REPORT”
In September 2024, OnlyFans released their financial records for the fiscal year ending November 30, 2023. This data release was part of a UK regulatory filing and contained information of interest to content creators and the adult industry. The overall figures were extremely impressive, with OnlyFans reporting “record revenue and profits” for the 2023 fiscal year, including an increase in the number of creators using the platform increasing by 29% for a total of 4.12 million. Furthermore, gross payments made through the OnlyFans platform for this period increased by 19%, as reported by OnlyFans’ parent company, Fenix International, resulting in total payments of $6.63 billion for the reporting period.
Although these overall numbers are remarkable, the really interesting data was how that translates to income for individual creators. Creators on the platform earned total payouts of $5.32 billion for the most recent fiscal year, with individual creators receiving a “mean average” of just under $1,300 for the year. Although this number seems a little low at first glance and seems to fly in the face of individual creators publicising record profits of their own, the reporting obscures the statistics underneath. The mean average of payments to creators is not as useful a statistic as the median. For the maths nerds who are interested in this stuff, datasets such as the income of creators on OnlyFans are skewed by the fact there are a lot of unused or underused accounts. Conversely, there are accounts which are raking it in. The median is a statistic that knocks out all that data, which isn’t useful due to it outlying from the majority of the data and is, therefore, more informative than the average of ALL the data.
This figure of content creator income was provided for UK regulatory requirements and, therefore, is not designed to be used and interpreted by models when it comes to their content strategy or evaluating their success on the platform. However, it does give the following food for thought…
CHASING THE WHALE
For models who only work through one platform, such as OnlyFans, there are a few factors to keep in mind. Although OnlyFans has demonstrated impressive profits over time, there still is a lot of data missing from what has been provided. This means it needs to be interpreted with caution. The average payments made to creators is comparatively low but does not consider the issues I mentioned about skewed data. Furthermore, it does not give a picture for how the payments are generated (e.g. are they for subscriptions, messaging, tips, or unlocking of posts?) and, more importantly, how OnlyFans ties into an overall content strategy for adult models. Although OnlyFans only refers to the adult content of their platform in an oblique manner, many adult models well-established on other platforms also use the site as part of their platform portfolio. OnlyFans does not allow creators to advertise other platforms. This provides additional cover for the site not wanting to lean in hard to the adult industry, and it is also designed to try to keep all profits limited to their platform.
Access to site data and user analytics has historically been an issue for adult content creators, as there is a tendency for sites to assume that models will not find this useful. However, this underestimates the content and marketing strategies employed by adult models. In the absence of access to good data, other ways of informing business practices need to be used.
LEVERAGING ALL AVAILABLE PLATFORMS
The reality is that with such a hostile internet environment, adult content creators need to be supported to diversify and have content on multiple platforms. As we have seen in recent years, sites can be shut down overnight, leaving creators to scramble to find other means of income generation. Most platforms do not accept this reality of content creation, as it flies in the face of generating as much profit as possible for site owners. Although sites do work together algorithmically to promote creators’ content (e.g. after watching a video on PornHub, you may be recommended the account of the creator on OnlyFans), they do not fully embrace supporting creators to make income on multiple platforms. Or even use their platform to find and leverage the audience for another platform. Although this is in keeping with a sound business model on their part, it is not in the best interests of individual models trying to make a living in a volatile workplace. Sites that acknowledge the environment models are working in and provide a supportive platform for them to develop are contributing not only to the success of individuals but also to positive shifts in the industry as a whole.
Rem Sequence is an Australian adult content creator, blogger, and internationally published alt model. She has a background in psychology, philosophy and political science and worked in health and sex education, youth work and trauma counselling for almost two decades. Now, she works full time in the adult industry, as well as indulging her passion for arts, writing and music in numerous side projects.
