How OnlyFans Changed the Landscape of Porn

When you look at prehistoric art, basically, what you see is some stick figures hunting a yak or a mammoth. What they don’t show you is a piece of art that’s deeper in the cave. It depicts a stick lady sitting on a black piece of stone, looking innocent. Behind her, there are five mammoths in white T-shirts, with deerskin wrapped around their tusks.

History, when you think about it, is just a log of how we masturbated differently through time. Well, that’s one way to look at it at least. It started off with rubbing one out behind a bush and went to abandoned warehouses to watch two people having a go behind a glass wall. The very fact that a glory hole is a thing tells you how far we’re willing to go to get off. And then, let there be the internet.

We switched from magazines and renting VHS tapes to consuming our adult content online. This move was revolutionary for the adult entertainment industry as porn studios had access to a much larger audience. Everything you ever fantasized about is just a click away today. However, thanks to innumerous tube sites, porn performers weren’t able to make a lot of money by making sexual content. To be fair, they still made a hot dollar, but it wasn’t as much as it could have been.

Recently, we’ve seen yet another trend, another evolution that steers us as consumers away from traditional porn. Yes, we’re talking about OnlyFans. So how did OnlyFans change the porn industry? Why are porn stars moving to OnlyFans? Let’s check out!

What Is OnlyFans, and How Does It Work?

OnlyFans (and platforms like OnlyFans), back in 2016, when Tim Stokely started things off, wasn’t really intended to bring the porn revolution. Back then, the site was for fitness coaches, bodybuilders, and cooks. They could be able to have a social media platform where they could monetize their recipes, workout routines, etc. Imagine it as a premium Instagram account where you have to pay a subscription to view the feed. The main difference from Instagram though? Everything goes.

Porn stars realized they could utilize this platform easily, and they jumped at the chance. So how does OnlyFans work? Well, the business model is simple. You have to pay to access someone’s content. The creator gets 80% of your money, while the rest goes to OnlyFans. Once you’re there, you get to see all their videos and have yourself hours upon hours of entertainment. If you need just a quick fix, you can make a one-time payment as well.

It’s a Different Kind of Porn

OnlyFans is an entirely new way of consuming porn. Creators at OnlyFans are not just porn actors — they’re creators. They shoot a video, edit it, post on their feed, and interact with their fan base. Basically, they are nightly YouTubers. For the most part, they film themselves at home with a camera that streamers usually use. Today, when you go to one of the tube sites, you can find high-quality videos made in a studio. When you put on a Reality Kings video, much of that reality has gone away, and it simply doesn’t feel as real.

This gives an advantage to OnlyFans. Videos have a more personal approach as you get to choose the type of content you create. Additionally, content creators get to interact with fans of their OnlyFans page, and that’s a new approach for fans themselves. Fans now feel a closer connection to their favorite performer, which is especially true when you pay for custom content.

Just imagine that for a second. You see a video of your favorite porn star, and you think to yourself, “I wish she would do this thing I’m into instead.” And now, instead of just fantasizing about it, you can just drop them a message. They start producing the content you’re into, and you give them money for it. It’s a win-win situation!

In fact, these payments are the main revenue stream for the majority of OnlyFans models. They don’t only get money for making personalized videos; they can also charge you for sexting, a personalized message, a video call, etc. In the long term, the best you can do is surround your feed with as many simps as possible, and your earnings will soon start going through the roof.

The Rise of the Platform

In March 2020, most of the world went into a lockdown. People were forced to stay at home, regardless of whether they were an accountant, a teacher, or a porn actor. The reasons for it are known to everyone, so we won’t talk about that. But the lockdown had an influence on the economy and everyone’s paycheck. Escorting went down as you simply couldn’t go around having sex with strangers as freely as before. Furthermore, porn studios decreased their production numbers, so actors had fewer gigs to attend to. And even when they had one, it ended up with a smaller payout.

That’s where OnlyFans steps in. Many porn stars decided to sign up and create their own accounts. In March alone, the platform reported 3.5 million new signups (about 112,000 each day), which signalled a 75% increase. In February, the platform had 20 million users. By September, that number was 50 million. The increase is also obvious in the number of creators since as many as 500,000 creators joined in that period as well.

Porn stars and other models joined for obvious reasons. They were struggling to get money elsewhere, and they were locked in their homes with just a recorder and time on their hands. Other users signed up either out of boredom or loneliness, or, most commonly, both. OnlyFans allowed them to feel closer to their favorite porn stars. If you had a chance to get your favorite singer to write a song about you, wouldn’t you do it?

Making the Big Move

While the financial side of joining OnlyFans from a creator’s point of view is obvious, there are other benefits as well. It’s pretty damn easy! It feels more natural to shoot a video by yourself (or with just a friend around). There are no directors that tell you how to do what you’re doing; there are no millions of lights shining on your privates. It’s less demanding.

What’s more, you get to choose what you’re going to film. This way, you can do only what feels good to you, and you’ll find an audience that likes the same thing. Porn stars often have to appear in scenes they don’t really fantasize about, but it’s a part of the job. With OnlyFans, you get to pick what is okay and what’s not for you, and you do all of this from the comfort of your home. You get more money for doing things you like more. That’s why many porn stars (with different levels of fame) have their own accounts you can follow.

Still doubting the power of OnlyFans? Well, we’ll leave you with this trivia. In the first 24 hours of making her account, Bella Thorne received $1 million in subscription-based money. That’s just one day, and that’s just money from subscriptions. Not too shabby, if you ask us!