Safe For Work

OnlyFans dropped big news yesterday. The company that skyrocketed to popularity thanks to adult creators is banning sexually explicit content (mostly... nude content will be allowed; details are still fuzzy). It cited pressure from banks which checks out, since Visa and Mastercard recently cut ties with Pornhub.

OnlyFans' porn problem reaches elsewhere, too. Many VCs are prohibited from investing in explicit content, and the Apple/Google stores have strict policies on it. That’s why the first OnlyFans app is SFW along with its new free-streaming platform, OFTV, which launched a few days prior to announcing the big ban.

We’ll all be watching to see if the company can pull off this content strategy pivot. OnlyFans has over 130 million users on the site each month who tune into more than 2 million content creators. That does include some SFW creators like fitness instructors and chefs, but it’s the adult content that brings the milkshakes to the yard.

Beyond social media giants and their new tools, OnlyFans also has to compete with new competitors with all-in-one platforms for creators and subscribers. Gigs launched recently in this space. The “Shopify for video creators” streamlines the video process from creation and editing to monetization.

To attract new creators, OnlyFans will probably need to go beyond basic features like subscriptions and tipping. They could make an acquisition or beef up their creator tools, a space that’s on fire. Yesterday Riverside.fm, a podcast and video creation platform, launched its second iteration which enables creators to record 4K HD video and leverage features like AI Speaker View, split backgrounds, and background noise reduction. OnlyFans creators need tools like this.

It could also look to newcomers who take a sensual approach to “intimacy-related entertainment” content, like Bang and just-launched StoryMaze, to keep its existing fan base.

The bottom line is that while the company was on the earlier side of the creator renaissance, now it’s got work to do.

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