THE ECONOMIST: How OnlyFans transformed the smutty business of online porn

Since it was founded in 2016 by a well-heeled Brit, OnlyFans has grown into a giant of x-rated content. The platform, whose current owner, a secretive Ukrainian-American, is reportedly looking to sell it for $US8 bilion ($12.3b), is used by over four million “creators”, who post content, and over 300 million “fans”, who pay for it.

In the 12 months to November 2023, the latest data available, it brought in revenue of $US1.3 billion ($2b). At around 50 per cent, its operating margin was higher than those of tech giants such as Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft. OnlyFans has not only been an enormous financial success. It has transformed how porn is made, shared and consumed online.

The internet has been filled with smut for as long as it has existed. Work published in the Journal of Sex Research in 2023 suggests major porn sites get more monthly visitors and page views than Amazon, Netflix or Zoom.

Yet the porn industry has struggled to make money. “Tube sites”, such as PornHub, allow more or less anyone to watch videos for free.

Advertising revenues are paltry, as many brands would rather not be associated with adult content. Measures to keep illicit content, like child porn, off some sites are weak.

OnlyFans, by contrast, has developed a lucrative new approach. It charges users to watch videos, with extra fees for bespoke content, merchandise and personalised chats. Much of this, though not all, is sexual in nature.

OnlyFans keeps a 20 per cent cut of what users pay, slightly less than Uber, a ride-hailing app, and about the same as Airbb, a home-sharing platform. The company paid creators $US5.3b in the 12 months to November 2023.

And OnlyFans isn’t on the app stores run by Apple and Google, which means it doesn’t have to pay hefty fees on in-app purchases.

Because it has money, OnlyFans can invest in security measures which, though imperfect, are at least better than those of many of its peers. In some markets, including Britain, it uses third-party technology to estimate a viewer’s age based on a facial scan, to ensure minors don’t sign up.

For creators, it requires numerous pieces of documentation, including a government ID and bank details.

It has a team of nearly 1,500 people verifying accounts and checking that videos on the platform meet its rules.

In May OnlyFans rejected about two-thirds of the 187,305 applications it received for new accounts. Keily Blair, its chief executive, compares this to the know-your-customer process followed by big banks.

“There is no anonymity on OnlyFans,” she says, adding that content is not end-to-end encrypted, allowing the company to monitor what is published, and there is no algorithm pushing posts.

Creators have flocked to the site. Last year Lily Allen, a famous singer, revealed she was making more money through her OnlyFans account, where she shared photographs of her feet, than through Spotify, a music-streaming service.

Bonnie Blue, a sex worker who was banned from OnlyFans this month following a stunt in which she slept with more than 1000 men in a day, told The Economist she earned as much as $US250,000 per month from the site. She bought a Ferrari and a Rolex with the proceeds. Hers is a serious business.

Ms Blue has a team of around ten people, including photographers, editors and security. She says she spends 60-70 per cent of her time at her desk, rather than in the bedroom, replying to messages and doing administrative tasks

“Being an online creator isn’t as glam as it seems,” she says.

There are various risks for OnlyFans. One is competition from newer subscription sites, like Fansly, where Ms Blue is sharing videos following the ban. Artificial-intelligence tools are producing increasingly realistic porn for free.

Then there is the policing of adult content. On July 1st Sweden will introduce rules that mean anyone paying for custom images or videos on porn sites could face up to a year in prison.

OnlyFans was fined over £1m ($2.1m) by Britain’s media watchdog this year for providing it with faulty information about its age-verification process.

An independent review in Britain of the porn industry, published in February, argued that “the competition for clicks is driving the production of increasingly disturbing content”; last week the government announced that the depiction of strangulation in porn would be made illegal.

OnlyFans is also at the mercy of payment providers, which have their own rules on which services they will support. And the squeamishness of some investors is another challenge.

Still, at a price of $US8b, the firm looks like a bargain. Airbnb and Uber are currently valued at 33 and 50 times their past 12 months’ operating profits, respectively.

On an average of the two, OnlyFans should be valued at around $US28b. If its profit has grown since it last reported results in 2023, it could be worth even more.