In 2021, American model and television personality Blac Chyna was the top-earning creator on OnlyFans, with an estimate of 20 million U.S. dollars in earnings from the platform per month. Actress and creator Bella Thorne ranked second, with an estimate of 11 million U.S. dollars earned per month on the platform. Rapper Cardi B. followed, with 9.34 million U.S. dollars in revenues on OnlyFans in 2021.

Where online pornography meets the creators economy OnlyFans experienced staggering growth in 2020, when the global coronavirus pandemic drove audiences worldwide to move their lives online. Traffic to the OnlyFans website kept increasing through the end of 2021, reaching 39.43 million visits in January 2022. Launched in 2016, the London-based platform OnlyFans hosts video and photo content available for free and via monthly subscription. While it was not purposely launched to host adult entertainment material, the platform became increasingly renowned for sexually explicit content as the sex services industry moved online and independent workers looked at content creation to support themselves during the pandemic. Despite the company announcing a ban on porn in March 2021, it backtracked on this statement only a few months later. OnlyFans global net revenues are estimated to reach 2.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2022.

Monetization tools for creators Effective content monetization is crucial not only for creators, but also plays a role in online platforms’ success and market presence. Professional and semi-professional creators that can focus on producing engaging content represent the backbone of the social media economy, with hosting platforms relying on user-generated media to attract views and drive ad presence. According to a survey of digital content creators conducted in 2021, 60 percent of content creators had not chosen to monetize their content yet, while less than one in 10 reported earning over 10,000 U.S. dollars. Among niche creators who managed to successfully monetize their online efforts, approximately 23 percent of respondents reported selling their own physical products. Affiliate marketing deals were also among the leading monetization methods for non-niche creators, with 10 percent of respondents in this group reporting earning revenues online.

Among the possibilities that Web 3.0 has promised to bring, direct monetization and follower support might represent the most important digital gig economy development of the next years. A number of digital creators have also started showing interest in crypto payments, with 40 percent of creators who use images as their primary media deeming them crucial or nice to have.

As of August of 2022, the highest earning OnlyFans accounts ever were the musicians Bhad Bhabie and Cardi B, having earned 59.8 million U.S. Dollars and 46.7 million U.S. Dollars respectively. The highest paid non-musician was Blac Chyna, having earned 39.3 million U.S. Dollars.

In February 2025, OnlyFans received approximately 179,522 requests to open creator accounts on the platform, 36 percent of which were approved to post on the platform. During the second half of 2024, the entertainment and video platform OnlyFans received around 1.1 million requests submitted to open creators' accounts, but only 396,272 were approved to open an account on the platform.

In 2023, online video content community and user-generated content platform OnlyFans counted approximately 4.11 million creators. Funded in 2016, OnlyFans is a video platform hosting content generated by users as well as live streaming sessions. While OnlyFans hosts creators producing content covering a variety of topics -including fitness and music - the platform acquired notoriety in 2020 thanks to its hosting of adult and pornographic content, allowing creators to find an online hub to perform during the initial phase of the global coronavirus pandemic outbreak.

In 2024, content creators based in the United States were estimated to generate around 8.14 billion U.S. dollars in revenues via sponsored content. This would represent an increase compared to 2021, when content creators and influencers in the U.S. saw revenues of 5.2 billion U.S. dollars from this monetization method. Platform payout was the second leading monetization method for content creators, with revenues of 3.23 billion U.S. dollars in 2024.

Ein Viertel der US-amerikanischen Content-Creator gab im Frühjahr 2023 an, zwischen 50.000 und 100.000 US-Dollar zu verdienen - ähnlich viele der Befragten nannten 100.000 bis 500.000 US-Dollar als ihr jährliches Einkommen. Der Anteil der Creator, die unter 20.000 US-Dollar jährlich verdienen, ist im Vergleich zum Jahr 2021 um 22 Prozentpunkte zurückgegangen.