Thread by @petergyang

🔒 OnlyFans grew faster than any other creator platform this year.

Let's explore why 👇

1. Overview
2. Flywheel
3. Creators
4. Fans
5. What's next

1/ OnlyFans lets creators charge fans for access to content and interactions.

In 4 years, OnlyFans grew to:

• 1M creators
• $2B paid to creators
• 100+ creators making $1M+

2/ The OnlyFans flywheel works as follows:

1. Target a specific segment

2. Help creators make money by engaging super fans

3. Rely on creators to bring more fans from social media

4. Attract other creator segments through word of mouth

Let's dive into each step.

3/ In 2016, adult creators couldn't make money from social media and were barely making a living on cam sites that had terrible revenue share.

4/ On OnlyFans, creators could earn more by asking their super fans to pay to unlock content and direct messages.

OnlyFans took a 20% cut of revenue vs. 40%+ for cam sites.

5/ Once adult creators realized they could make more money on OnlyFans, they brought more fans from Reddit, Instagram, TikTok, and other channels.

6/ Word of mouth attracted other creator segments such as influencers and people who lost income from COVID.

These new creators joined OnlyFans and drove the flywheel further.

7/ Now let's cover how OnlyFans creators grow their audience through:

1. Acquisition
2. Activation
3. Retention
4. Monetization

The notes below are from @aella_girl's chat with @lijin18 and @nbashaw on their podcast:
open.spotify.com/episode/4Rjn58…

8/ Adult creators brought fans to OnlyFans from social media. The top acquisition channels are:

1. NSFW subreddits
2. Instagram
3. TikTok
4. Twitter

9/ OnlyFans creators also drove top of funnel through collaboration:

1. They use Telegram chat to find other creators to cross promote content.

2. Some creators pay hundreds to promote their content on a larger creator's page (almost like paying for an ad!).

10/ Creators have two types of pages on OnlyFans:

1. Free page
2. Paid sub page

They use the free page to convert fans to paid subscriptions.

11/ Here's how creators make money from each OnlyFans page:

1. Free page: Charge fans to unlock posts and private messages.

2. Paid sub page: Charge fans to unlock private messages (which often have video).

12/ According to @aella_girl:

• 64% of income is subscriptions

• The rest is paid DMs and tips

• Brand sponsorships are a big income source that's not available to adult creators

13/ Retention is a problem - 50% of paid subs churn after the first month on OnlyFans.

There are two fan segments:

1. Fans who pay to view a creator's content archives and then churn.

2. Super fans who want interactions with the creator.

The secret to keeping #2 is...

14/ In a chat with @theinformation, Tim Stokely, CEO of OnlyFans said:

"There seems to be a stronger link with interaction than any other factor when it comes to the highest performing accounts."

theinformation.com/articles/onlyf…

15/ Why is interaction so important?

According to Aella:

"Men generally want intimacy, especially the ones that pay a lot."

"OnlyFans lets you play intimate with many fans. When a girl sends a mass DM, the fan doesn't know that it was for everyone."

16/ For super fans, it's all about authentic interactions with the creator through:

1. Direct messages
2. Access to exclusive content

Even remembering a super fan's birthday can go a long way.

17/ OnlyFans grew 70%+ every month since COVID hit in March by attracting two very different creator segments:

1. Influencers like Cardi B and Bella Thorne. Cardi B makes $8M a month on the platform.

2. People who lost their jobs during COVID and use OnlyFans to stay afloat.

18/ Although OnlyFans started with adult creators, it's now expanding into:

1. New verticals: Music, sports, comedy

2. New markets: LatAm, Asia

19/ OnlyFans works because it helps creators make money from super fans.

From Tim:

"[OnlyFans] serves as a bolt-on to your social media and provides an easy way to monetize the content."

"Iif you've got 10,000 fans on OnlyFans [vs. 1M on Instagram] they're your real fans."

20/ To recap, OnlyFans grew by:

1. Focusing on a specific creator segment

2. Helping those creators make more money by engaging their super fans.

This flywheel can work for any startup in the creator economy, as I'll explore in a future post.

21/ Folks have pointed out that "adult content during pandemic" is a winning formula.

While certainly true, I think OnlyFans is more about the individual attention and interactions than the content.

A similar trend played out in China a few years ago:

peteryang.substack.com/p/a-primer-on-…

22/ References to this thread:

@lijin18 and @nbashaw's podcast (many great episodes!):


@cityoftown's interview with OnlyFans CEO (paywalled):
theinformation.com/articles/onlyf…

@efeng's Medium post with more revenue data:
efeng.medium.com/new-media-plat…

Great to see so much interest in OnlyFans and the creator economy!

👉 Follow me on Twitter and let's keep the conversation going. Upcoming threads:

1. True fan flywheel 🎡
2. Hierarchy of creator needs 🔺
3. Why creators will play a key role in social shopping 🛍️