OnlyFans has amassed, well, quite a number of fans. Founded in 2016, the subscription based online video platform took off during the early pandemic. And unlike the relics of lockdown like Animal Crossing craze or whipped coffee, the company still has wings.
In fact, the website known for hosting pornography or adult content is coming off a stellar year. Sex sells, it seems. More people are flocking to the platform, user accounts increased by 28% in one year to a whopping 305,000 million fans— according to a 2023 annual earnings report as posted by OnlyFans’ parent company, Fenix International.
And creators are taking note too, as their base increased by 29% to 4.1 million accounts. Indeed, the creator economy has boomed recently, and some OnlyFans breakout stars on the upper threshold are able to turn what might have been a side-hustle into million-dollar livelihoods.
“People don’t understand the scale of the opportunity. I mean, really: You can make your own world,” Bryce Adams, an OnlyFans creator who has employees and runs her operations on a 10-acre property, told the Washington Post in 2023. “This is our business. This is our life.” Of course, Adams is an exceptional story given her immense popularity. Broken down between the millions of accounts, the average annual payout is actually more in the ballpark of $1,300 per creator, notes Mashable.
The gross site volume, or the amount fans paid to creators, surged by $1 billion from $5.5 to a record-breaking $6.6 billion. That’s a 19% increase over a single year, notes Variety. OnlyFans takes a not-so-modest 20% slice of creators’ profits.
Revenue also reached record highs in 2023, catapulting by $217 million in one year to $1.3 billion. When looking at just cash, OnlyFans is still swimming in it with $678,000 in cash assets.
A healthy portion of those earnings goes to owner Leonid Radvinsky, who was paid more than $472 million in dividends in 2023. Having bought the company in 2018, Radvinsky has made more than $1 billion in just three years per Bloomberg.
While on a streak, OnlyFans recognizes some risks on the road ahead. Some of the mentioned factors noted include media interest and “actual or perceived security breaches.” The platform notes that cybersecurity concerns are “a top priority.” And being in the spotlight can be fun, but also sweltering. As public and media interest peaks in OnlyFans, the company resolves to “continue to develop its public and government relations strategy to address misconceptions” as stoked by coverage.