OnlyFans is a content subscription service headquartered in London and founded by brothers Tim and Thomas Stokely in 2016. Helped by a £10,000 loan from their father, the brothers envisioned a space where creators could monetize content without advertising.
OnlyFans was acquired by billionaire investor Leonid Radvinsky in 2018. Since the acquisition, the platform has become predominantly associated with adult entertainment.
As the provider of a platform for paywalled content, OnlyFans has a simple yet lucrative business model. Creators charge for access to their work via subscriptions and exclusive paid content while also receiving tips. In each case, the company takes a 20% commission.
OnlyFans is a content subscription service headquartered in London and founded by brothers Tim and Thomas Stokely in 2016.
Tim Stokely envisioned a site where creators could monetize their content without resorting to advertising.
This included musicians, artists, and fitness experts, but it also included sex workers.
Many such workers, he noticed, were trying to sell their services on social media sites such as Instagram and having their posts deleted because of inappropriate content.
With a £10,000 loan from their father, the Stokely brothers launched the OnlyFans platform.
It incorporated a news feed not dissimilar to Twitter or Instagram, and users were required to pay a monthly subscription to view the content of their favorite entertainers.
What’s more, users could pay additional money to unlock valuable content.
OnlyFans was a near-instant success with creators, who appreciated the ability to reach a high percentage of their fans with a single post or interact with them directly.
In 2018, American investor Leonid Radvinsky acquired 75% of the company. After the acquisition, OnlyFans became increasingly associated with adult content.
Two years later, the platform experienced rapid growth as many were stuck at home and left unemployed by the coronavirus pandemic.
A name-drop from musician Beyonce in a music video was also beneficial to the company’s bottom line.
Today, OnlyFans boasts an impressive set of figures.
Monetization Without Ads: OnlyFans offers creators a space to earn money directly from their content, eliminating the need for intrusive ads. This appeals to creators from various fields, including musicians, artists, fitness experts, and adult entertainers.
Subscription and Exclusive Content: Creators can charge users for access to their exclusive content and interact directly with their fan base. This model allows creators to cultivate a loyal following and earn recurring revenue through subscriptions.
Customization and Direct Interaction: The platform enables creators to personalize their content offerings and fulfill custom content requests from fans. This direct interaction fosters a sense of community and engagement.
Revenue Sharing: OnlyFans provides a revenue-sharing model, with creators receiving 80% of the earnings from subscriptions, tips, and exclusive content. This transparent approach benefits creators by allowing them to retain a significant portion of their earnings.
Revenue Model:
Subscription Fees: OnlyFans generates revenue primarily through subscription fees paid by fans to access exclusive content from creators. Creators set their own monthly subscription prices, and OnlyFans takes a percentage of the subscription revenue as a platform fee, providing a recurring revenue stream for the company.
Tips and Paid Messages: In addition to subscription fees, OnlyFans offers features such as tips and paid messages, allowing fans to further support their favorite creators through one-time payments or direct messaging interactions. OnlyFans may collect a percentage of these transactions as processing fees, generating additional revenue for the platform.
Premium Content Sales: Some creators on OnlyFans may offer premium content or pay-per-view posts for an additional fee, providing fans with the opportunity to unlock exclusive content or experiences for a one-time payment. OnlyFans may collect a portion of the sales revenue as a platform fee, diversifying its revenue streams.
Customer Segments:
Content Creators: Creators from diverse backgrounds, including adult entertainment, fitness, art, music, and other niches, use OnlyFans to monetize their content. They appreciate the platform’s ability to provide a direct revenue stream from their work.
Fans and Subscribers: Users who are willing to pay for exclusive content and subscriptions from their favorite creators form a significant customer segment. They seek unique and personalized content experiences.
Social Media Influencers: Influencers and personalities with a substantial online following may leverage OnlyFans to provide exclusive content and experiences to their dedicated fan base.
Distribution Strategy:
Website: OnlyFans operates a user-friendly website that serves as the central hub for both creators and subscribers. Creators can manage their content, pricing, and interactions, while subscribers access content through the site.
Mobile App: The OnlyFans mobile app extends the platform’s accessibility, allowing creators to engage with fans and upload content directly from their smartphones. It provides a convenient and on-the-go experience for both creators and subscribers.
App Stores: The OnlyFans mobile app is available for download on popular app stores, including the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, enhancing its reach to a wider audience.
Marketing Strategy:
Creator Outreach: OnlyFans actively recruits creators from various niches and provides them with incentives to join the platform. The company promotes the idea that creators can monetize their passions and gain a direct connection with their fans.
Subscriber Acquisition: The platform encourages creators to promote their OnlyFans accounts to their existing fan base on social media and other platforms. This word-of-mouth marketing helps attract subscribers.
Balanced Brand Image: OnlyFans maintains a balanced brand image by acknowledging its association with adult content while also emphasizing its broader appeal to creators from different industries. This approach reduces stigma and attracts a diverse creator base.
Content Promotion: The platform promotes featured creators and their content through its website and social media channels, showcasing the variety of content available on OnlyFans.
Incentive Programs: OnlyFans offers creators the option to provide exclusive promotions and discounts to subscribers, encouraging user acquisition and retention.
Community Building: OnlyFans fosters a sense of community among creators and subscribers. Creators interact directly with their fans, and subscribers feel engaged and valued, leading to a positive feedback loop.
Data-Driven Insights: The platform uses data analytics to identify trends, preferences, and user behavior, helping creators optimize their content and pricing strategies.
Brand Partnerships: OnlyFans explores strategic partnerships with brands and influencers to expand its reach and diversify its content offerings.
OnlyFans revenue generation
OnlyFans has a relatively simple revenue generation model as the provider of a platform for paywalled content.
For each monthly subscription a user purchases, the company takes 20% while giving the remaining 80% to the content creator.
The company sets a minimum and maximum subscription rates, starting at $4.99/per month and increasing to $49.99/per month.
Tips and exclusive content
Content creators can also communicate directly with fans, allowing them to consider special requests for custom or personalized content.
This content is then sold back to the fan for a fee, with prices starting at $5 and capped at $100.
For creators who don’t charge a subscription, the cap on all pay-per-view content is $50.
Alternatively, content creators can receive tips for the content they produce.
Since the earnings from tips and exclusive content constitute creator income, they are treated the same way as subscription earnings.
Key Takeaways
OnlyFans Origin Story:
Founded in 2016 by Tim and Thomas Stokely in London.
Tim Stokely’s vision was to create a platform where creators could monetize content without relying on advertising.
Launched with a £10,000 loan from their father.
Initially intended for various creators, including musicians, artists, fitness experts, and sex workers.
Allowed creators to sell content through paid subscriptions and offer exclusive content.
Acquisition and Growth:
In 2018, OnlyFans was acquired by billionaire investor Leonid Radvinsky.
The platform became predominantly associated with adult content after the acquisition.
Experienced rapid growth during the COVID-19 pandemic as many people stayed home and faced unemployment.
Mention in Beyonce’s music video further boosted its popularity.
Impressive Figures:
Over 150 million registered users on the platform.
Paid out more than $5 billion to 1.5 million content creators.
Revenue Generation Model:
OnlyFans takes a 20% commission from each monthly subscription purchased by users.
Creators receive the remaining 80% of the subscription revenue.
Subscription rates range from $4.99 to $49.99 per month.
Tips and Exclusive Content:
Content creators can offer exclusive content to fans for a fee, ranging from $5 to $100.
They can directly interact with fans and fulfill custom content requests.
Earnings from tips and exclusive content are treated the same as subscription earnings.
Versatility in Content:
Creators from various fields, including adult entertainment, fitness, art, music, and more, can monetize their content on OnlyFans.
Platform allows creators to connect directly with their fan base.
Provides a space for diverse content offerings, enabling creators to earn income through different content types.
Element
Description
Value Proposition
OnlyFans offers a compelling value proposition for its users, including: – Content Access: Providing subscribers with access to exclusive content from creators. – Creator Autonomy: Allowing creators to set their content’s pricing and content types. – Direct Interaction: Facilitating direct interactions between creators and subscribers. – Privacy Control: Giving creators control over their content and audience. – Monetization: Offering creators a platform to monetize their content and fanbase. – Diverse Content: Hosting a wide range of content genres and niches. – Supportive Community: Fostering a community of content creators and fans. – Anonymous Browsing: Allowing users to browse and subscribe anonymously. – Financial Incentives: Providing creators with a revenue-sharing model. – Adult Content: Allowing adult content creators to monetize their work.
Core Products/Services
OnlyFans’ core products and services encompass: – Content Subscription Platform: Operating a platform for creators to offer subscription-based content. – Content Monetization: Enabling creators to earn money from their content. – Direct Messaging: Facilitating direct messaging between creators and subscribers. – Content Upload: Allowing creators to upload videos, photos, and posts for subscribers. – Fan Interaction: Providing tools for creators to interact with their fans. – Customizable Content: Allowing creators to customize subscription pricing and offerings. – Safety Measures: Implementing safety measures and guidelines for content. – Privacy Controls: Offering privacy settings for creators and their subscribers. – Mobile App: Providing a user-friendly mobile app for content consumption. – Financial Transactions: Managing financial transactions and earnings for creators.
Customer Segments
OnlyFans serves a diverse range of customer segments, including: – Content Creators: Attracting individuals and influencers creating content across various niches. – Subscribers/Fans: Engaging with users interested in accessing exclusive content. – Adult Content Creators: Catering to adult content creators seeking monetization opportunities. – Entertainers: Serving musicians, artists, and performers connecting with fans. – Influencers: Partnering with social media influencers looking to monetize their following. – Models and Performers: Engaging with models, actors, and entertainers. – Content Consumers: Attracting individuals interested in subscribing to content. – Supportive Community: Fostering a community of creators and their fans. – LGBTQ+ Community: Serving the LGBTQ+ community with a platform for expression. – Entrepreneurs: Providing a platform for entrepreneurial content creators.
Revenue Streams
OnlyFans generates revenue through various revenue streams: – Subscription Fees: Earnings from fees charged to subscribers for access to creators’ content. – Transaction Fees: Income from transaction fees deducted from creator earnings. – Tipping: Revenue from fan tips and donations to creators. – Premium Content: Earnings from the sale of premium or exclusive content. – Advertising: Potential income from advertising and promotions on the platform. – Creator Fees: Charging creators a percentage of their earnings as fees. – Referral Program: Earnings from a referral program for creators and fans. – Paid Messages: Potential revenue from charging for direct messages. – Brand Partnerships: Income from collaborations with brands and influencers. – Content Merchandise: Earnings from the sale of merchandise related to creators’ content.
Distribution Strategy
OnlyFans employs a strategic distribution strategy to reach users and creators: – Online Platform: Operating an online platform accessible worldwide. – Mobile App: Providing a user-friendly mobile app for content consumption. – Creator Promotion: Encouraging creators to promote their profiles on social media. – Subscription Model: Leveraging a subscription-based model for content access. – Content Discovery: Offering content discovery tools for users to find creators. – Community Engagement: Fostering a supportive community of creators and fans. – Content Curation: Curating and featuring popular creators and content. – Monetization Tools: Providing creators with tools to monetize their content effectively. – Privacy Controls: Ensuring privacy controls and content guidelines are in place. – Customer Support: Providing assistance to creators and subscribers as needed.
The term “crowdsourcing” was first coined by Wired Magazine editor Jeff Howe in a 2006 article titled Rise of Crowdsourcing. Though the practice has existed in some form or another for centuries, it rose to prominence when eCommerce, social media, and smartphone culture began to emerge. Crowdsourcing is the act of obtaining knowledge, goods, services, or opinions from a group of people. These people submit information via social media, smartphone apps, or dedicated crowdsourcing platforms.
In an asymmetric businessmodel, the organization doesn’t monetize the user directly, but it leverages the data users provide coupled with technology, thus have a key customer pay to sustain the core asset. For example, Google makes money by leveraging users’ data, combined with its algorithms sold to advertisers for visibility.
In an asymmetric businessmodel, the organization doesn’t monetize the user directly, but it leverages the data users provide coupled with technology, thus having a key customer pay to sustain the core asset. For example, Google makes money by leveraging users’ data, combined with its algorithms sold to advertisers for visibility. This is how attention merchants make monetize their business models.
A marketplace is a platform where buyers and sellers interact and transact. The platform acts as a marketplace that will generate revenues in fees from one or all the parties involved in the transaction. Usually, marketplaces can be classified in several ways, like those selling services vs. products or those connecting buyers and sellers at B2B, B2C, or C2C level. And those marketplaces connecting two core players, or more.
The wholesale model is a selling model where wholesalers sell their products in bulk to a retailer at a discounted price. The retailer then on-sells the products to consumers at a higher price. In the wholesale model, a wholesaler sells products in bulk to retail outlets for onward sale. Occasionally, the wholesaler sells direct to the consumer, with supermarket giant Costco the most obvious example.
A retail business model follows a direct-to-consumer approach, also called B2C, where the company sells directly to final customers a processed/finished product. This implies a business model that is mostly local-based, it carries higher margins, but also higher costs and distribution risks.
A B2B2C is a particular kind of business model where a company, rather than accessing the consumer market directly, it does that via another business. Yet the final consumers will recognize the brand or the service provided by the B2B2C. The company offering the service might gain direct access to consumers over time.
While the term has been coined by Andrew Lampitt, open-core is an evolution of open-source. Where a core part of the software/platform is offered for free, while on top of it are built premium features or add-ons, which get monetized by the corporation who developed the software/platform. An example of the GitLab open core model, where the hosted service is free and open, while the software is closed.
Open source is licensed and usually developed and maintained by a community of independent developers. While the freemium is developed in-house. Thus the freemium give the company that developed it, full control over its distribution. In an open-source model, the for-profit company has to distribute its premium version per its open-source licensing model.
The freemium – unless the whole organization is aligned around it – is a growth strategy rather than a business model. A free service is provided to a majority of users, while a small percentage of those users convert into paying customers through the sales funnel. Free users will help spread the brand through word of mouth.
A freeterprise is a combination of free and enterprise where free professional accounts are driven into the funnel through the free product. As the opportunity is identified the company assigns the free account to a salesperson within the organization (inside sales or fields sales) to convert that into a B2B/enterprise account.
In a franchained business model (a short-term chain, long-term franchise) model, the company deliberately launched its operations by keeping tight ownership on the main assets, while those are established, thus choosing a chain model. Once operations are running and established, the company divests its ownership and opts instead for a franchising model.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
