Why? I have disposable income and I feel good when I spend it supporting creators I like. I subscribe to several Patreons of artists and YouTube creators, I’ve got that yearly Nebula subscription locked in, I buy merch and CDs from local bands (even though I don’t really listen to them after shows), and I also will pay folks posting tantalizing stuff on the internet. Sure I can get similar things for free, but sometimes I want content from that person and I see no issue giving them a couple bucks for it. I can afford it, so why not? Why do they not deserve it when I’m willing to also sub to a Patreon for someone who makes cool digital art on Instagram?
The “para-social” aspect is icky to me. At no point do I expect that this person knows who I am or has any care for me; any time I receive messages insinuating or fishing for that I ignore them. My “relationship” to them is a consumer who enjoys their work and is willing to compensate them for it, and that “relationship” only exists for a limited amount of time every so often.
> Sure I can get similar things for free, but sometimes I want content from that person and I see no issue giving them a couple bucks for it. I can afford it, so why not? Why do they not deserve it when I’m willing to also sub to a Patreon for someone who makes cool digital art on Instagram?
I don't really understand this. Digital art on Instagram is generally unique, but porn is not. Sure, there are some onlyfans models that cater to a very niche kink - I get why people would pay for that. But most of them just post regular naked photos/videos of themselves.
What is the value proposition here? You probably wouldn't pay for a Patreon of an artist that draws those generic boring corporate illustrations that every company uses, even though they have a use and still take effort to create. So why would you support a specific person that makes content which is not in any way different from any other person like that?
> content which is not in any way different from any other person like that?
Because their content is different enough. Getting back to the art example: everyone’s art is unique BUT you can still find other artists that are similar. Sure there will exist other models who look very nearly the same at first glance, but everybody is, in fact, unique! And even two people with nearly identical physiques may create different material. The differences may be subtle to some but very distinguishable to others.
I might just have an eye for the small differences too. I am friends with several people who take lascivious photos of themselves for fun and/or profit. I get to talk with them about it - context, lighting, angles, etc. I just dang ol’ appreciate the craft! It’s not always an attraction thing or arousal thing: the human form is gorgeous and beautiful and utterly divine and manifests in so many different shapes and sizes! And taking well-crafted photographs of any subject is an art!
And maybe that’s why I gravitate towards it - so much pornography is like junk food, but not all adult content has to be! Some of it is like a well crafted meal, featuring quality ingredients prepared well by a skilled cook :)
Thank you! I appreciate the write up. Do I understand correctly that you do not get a companionship aspect from it? I guess I think of OF as being where you go beyond porn to forming some sort of relationship with the porn star themselves.
Correct, no companionship for me — I understand this is a business and any connection is as deep as a “customer service” role at most. The relationship part is weird to me. I’m just paying because I want to see more of that person’s content specifically, and You Gotta Support The Troops™ (and by troops in this context I mean sex workers).
My proverbial homies that use it say it's because they get private show or host will watch via a 2-way video. It's basically peep shows and phone sex meets FaceTime. Stuff like this is why the growing part of their business is "One-off Transactions". It should be called "Jerk-off Transactions" because that's how it's being used.
None of these commenters actually use OnlyFans, because there's literally a free tier option to subscribe. You still need a credit card to sign up because they obviously want to reduce the friction for subscribing or paying for extra content. I've seen a lot of models that will use Twitter > Free OF > Paid OF funnel. Twitter is mostly soft-core / flirty, Free OF has some nudity, typically no videos, and the Paid OF is where most of explicit content is.
Revenue wise, you'll make a lot more money tailoring content to a small group of users who will pay for custom content / live cams etc than having any mass appeal with small donations. The large social media funnel is mostly there to get model's content out there to find the whales.
Context: I have a side business deploying chat LLMs for OnlyFans models for fans to "talk" to that's currently at 65k/MRR. It definitely helps with user retention, as models who chat to their fans will have a 2x or 3x spend rate per fan.
I think it is the general attractiveness of para social relationships (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasocial_interaction). People look for personal, intimate interactions.
OF creates (the illusion of) such relationships.
Some of the OF models are more physically attractive than most of the actors in free pornography. There's lots of free pornography on the internet but very little of it contains 9s and 10s.
I have subscribed on and off to many different OF accounts. I usually just want to check out their spicy content, not chat or form a connection of any kind. But I have chatted with and formed connections with people on webcam streaming sites. I've also performed on streaming sites and met many awesome people through those interactions (and earned a tiny amount of money).
The OF content I pay for is usually from someone I discovered via Instagram or a camming site.
But the money I spend on camming sites is usually because it offers two things that aren't easily found elsewhere. 1) direct interaction with the models in real time and 2) seeing couples who are actually couples and have a real and pre-existing relationship. Part 2 is a tiny amount of camming content, but it is some of my all time favorite sex content.
I would liken it as "digital sexual companionship" in many cases, rather than just porn. That's the value here, for a lot of the same reasons that people would engage with a "traditional" prostitute/escort. It's just cheaper (at first), and less likely to get you arrested or put in dangerous areas.
The article makes mention of AI content potentially coming for this industry, but I believe it's the "GirlfriendGPT" and similar that will be the bigger threat, once they improve.
I have known people who have been content creators on OF or similar. The whole industry is pretty abusive and exploitative, but on platforms like OF you can be more (certainly not entirely, but more) sure that the creator isn't being exploited and is the one benefitting from the work. A big part of it is also the creator interacting with the fans up to creating custom content for individuals.
Four years after the pandemic and people still pretend not to know that onlyfans is often free? Its such a tired trope to debate, but there is the possibility you’re serious
The article itself explains how subscriptions are a low part of OnlyFans business
But maybe this is only offering a glimpse
Many successful creators have a marketing strategy that includes a free subscription tier, and make money in pay per view DMs, or charging for DMs at all
So for people browsing for free pornography, its the same or better
Either way, its nice to see your attractive friends naked. Many women you meet in real life have a link in their social media bio that includes their onlyfans. In my world its very predictable based on visual attractiveness. Astoundingly, often it seems other women in their friend groups don’t know this and haven’t checked the “link in bio” of their girl friends. This masquerades as acceptance of sex workers.
