OnlyFans says it paid $20 billion to content creators since 2016

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OnlyFans Ltd, the video streaming service used by sex workers, has paid $20 billion (C$27.5 billion) to its more than four million content creators since its founding in 2016.

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The U.K.-based company doesn’t accept advertising or track its customers, Chief Executive Officer Keily Blair said Thursday at Bloomberg’s Screentime conference in Los Angeles. Instead it relies on subscriptions, pay-per-view events or tips for its talent.

Blair said the platform allows its more than 400 million customers to pick and choose what they want to view. She noted that more than half of the company’s revenue comes from micro-transactions versus subscriptions.

“Porn is free on the internet,” Blair said. “I think the reason why people pay for OnlyFans is because they want to engage with those particular creators. It’s because of the ability to customize as well as to ask for a specific content.”

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OnlyFans also makes it easy for people to purchase content by requiring payment information when they sign up — a better tactic than introducing a paywall for content that was once free.

“Other social media platforms have struggled to introduce that subscription model,” she said.

In 2021, the company began offering grants to musicians in a bid to diversify beyond pornographic content.

The company promoted Blair to CEO in 2023 in a further effort to move into more conventional entertainment. Blair previously worked for law and consulting firms on data privacy issues.

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