Only Loyal Fans May Remain on OnlyFans

OnlyFans, a creator content subscription service, grew to become synonymous with pornography during the pandemic. Now, the company is cutting its most explicit content from its site in an effort to appease credit card companies and investors. Earnest Analytics (FKA Earnest Research) data shows just an 18% overlap among customers of OnlyFans and Patreon (a similar platform without pornographic content) hinting that most customers are likely coming to OnlyFans for adult content.

But there is a silver lining for OnlyFans: subscribers to non-explicit content may be more loyal. Our data showed new customers added pre-pandemic—before Onlyfans became overwhelmingly associated with adult content—tended to keep their subscriptions longer than customers added during the pandemic. For example, 53% of customers added in 2Q19 were still customers one year later compared to 43% of customers added during the height of the pandemic in 2Q20. It remains to be seen whether OnlyFans’ pivot to non-sexual content will be a successful one, or if they’ll irrevocably lose most of their viewership.