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Has OnlyFans Revolutionized the Adult Industry?

If you had told anyone in 2016 that OnlyFans, the newest platform to come for the social media crown, would become one of the most popular websites in just a few short years, you’d be called a madman.

Nowadays, OnlyFans is an adult industry mainstay, but how did the platform reach its status, how did it revolutionize the space, and what lies in its future? Read on to find out!

What Is OnlyFans?

When you get down to it, OnlyFans is a social media site for posting content behind paywalls. Creators can sell content with a monthly sub or make fans pay for individual images or videos.

Originally intended for fashion models to share exclusive content with their fans, the site’s idols quickly started focusing more on taking clothes off rather than putting them on and strutting down catwalks.

While the site has tried shedding this adult-oriented label in the past, adult creators have become the bread and butter of OnlyFans.

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Selling Directly To Fans

Before OnlyFans caught on, models had three real choices — post content on free sites and rely on ad revenue, show themselves off live on cam sites and hope for tips, or sell their nude pictures and videos on mainstream platforms like Snapchat.

While all of these options did have their benefits, one thing was abundantly clear — a dedicated and easy-to-use platform for selling content directly to fans was necessary.

When OnlyFans came into the spotlight, it was revolutionary. Not only did the site offer lots of different monetization options and strategies for models, it also made purchasing content simple and secure for fans.

Empowering Women and Rise of the Baddies

With OnlyFans, creators could focus firmly on creating content and sharing it with their fans. The subscription model was especially popular in the early days of OnlyFans (with the free sub, paid videos catching on recently), giving onlyfans models a steady income.

This financial freedom and the platform’s very lax rules on what could and couldn’t be posted (especially early on) empowered creators in ways that other platforms never could. With this wave of sexual and financial empowerment came baddies — attractive, confident women who don’t take shit from anybody.

Being a baddie quickly caught on, both in porn and in society as a whole. These days, there are whole sites dedicated to porn featuring these baddies, the chief among them being Baddies.xxx. 

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The Future of OnlyFans

While OnlyFans is one of the biggest players in the adult industry, its future is anything but certain. The platform has made attempts to transition away from NSFW creators and return to a family friendly image despite the profitability of adult content

In 2021, the company went as far as to set an exact date for a total NSFW ban. Thankfully, they reversed the decision mere days before it was active, but the damage was already done, and many fled off the platform to alternatives like Fansly.

OnlyFans hasn’t tried anything similar since, but we can’t be sure they won’t try backing out again at some point, making the platform’s future quite uncertain.

Another thing to consider is the rapid development of AI and the impact it can have on platforms like OnlyFans. With sites like FakeCake around, it’s uncertain if paying for subscriptions will even be worth it when you can just watch realistic deepfake videos of your favorite model for free.

Conclusion

OnlyFans has been a key player in making the adult industry more model-focused. While the company behind the platform isn’t a stranger to poor business decisions, the community’s resilience is certain to keep the cash flow coming in.

Whether you’re a fan or a creator, OnlyFans has been the go-to platform for paid adult content for years, and while their crown seems to be getting heavier, they still reign supreme in the space.

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