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OnlyFans, the "Instagram of porn", tries to open up to the general public

No more enticing content.

OnlyFans, which had attracted many sex workers, completely changed its formula by banning, from October, "all sexually explicit content". And it is a revolution.

Dubbed the "paid porn Instagram", OnlyFans presents itself as a platform that "revolutionizes the relationship between creators and fans" by allowing users to subscribe to exclusive content offered by creators. But above all, the platform has built a solid reputation around adult entertainment.

Cardi B, DJ Khaled or Floyd Mayweather OnlyFans' popularity exploded during the Covid-19 pandemic, when many sex workers took over the site to continue working. Today, many of them are worried about this change in policy, which would purely and simply exclude them from the platform. To the point that OnlyFans published a tweet on Saturday claiming to be "looking for solutions" for them.

"The OnlyFans community wouldn't be what it is today without you," the company concedes.

Some highlight in particular the colossal income earned by OnlyFans thanks to adult content.

In 2020, the UK-based company had sales of over $2 billion. Over 150 million users and some 2 million content creators are on OnlyFans, and almost 500,000 new users join the platform every day.

OnlyFans donates 80% of revenue generated by content creators to creators, and keeps the remaining 20%. Since its creation in 2016, the company says it has paid more than $4.5 billion to creators, including rapper Cardi B, DJ Khaled, actor Tyler Posey and professional boxer Floyd Mayweather.

Its biggest challenge now is attracting mainstream content creators. A change of brand image has already been launched in the site's communication on social networks. Fashion influencers, singers, virtuoso make-up artists, stylists or sports coaches... Nothing suggests when visiting the platform's Twitter or Instagram page that it is the Eldorado of paid content for adults.

"An audience that doesn't necessarily find me on Instagram or TikTok" "I really hesitated to create an account, explains Chase Ingrande, artist and drag queen under the pseudonym Chase Runaway. Not because I think that pornographic content is a negative thing. (...) I am simply not not that kind of creator."

Barbara Aleks, a stylist and image consultant in Toronto, also concedes that she had doubts after OnlyFans contacted her, mainly because of the sulphurous image of the website. "But after they (...) explained to me that there was a whole other side, I thought I would give it a try." The stylist claims not to have been paid by OnlyFans to try the adventure. Just a little free promotion... "They created a promotional video of me and shared it on their Instagram page" and Twitter, she explains.

The content creator has set up a free subscription to her OnlyFans page, the time to grow her "community". She therefore does not yet derive any income from it, despite her 8,000 subscribers gained barely a week after the creation of her account. "It gives me access to an audience that doesn't necessarily find me on Instagram or TikTok, and it will give me the opportunity to share exclusive paid content in the future," she explains.

Chase Ingrande hasn't made any money yet either. Present in particular on Instagram, TikTok and Twitter, the drag-queen artist would have thought that his "followers" on social networks would follow him on this new medium. But no: "OnlyFans has an audience exclusive to OnlyFans", he notes.

"The public there is not interested in tree paintings, if you know what I mean" It is precisely this sulphurous niche that has discouraged some creators of non-pornographic content invited to join the platform. Texan artist Bria Gladney, a specialist in portraits and landscapes in oil paint, only made a quick ten-day stint on OnlyFans. "It was not at all what I expected from the OnlyFans advertisement. (...) The public there is not interested in tree paintings, if you see this I mean, she quips. I'm going to stick to platforms that target creatives rather than sex workers!."

In December 2018, New York-based blogging company Tumblr banned adult content from its pages. Its attendance immediately dropped by 30%, according to estimates by the SimilarWeb site.