What Are The Best Business Models For An Adult Content Business?

If you look at the top adult content sites on the internet today, it is clear that the adult Fanclub marketplace is doing a great job in the segment.

Following this adult content business model, websites are restructuring the adult entertainment industry to a whole new level.

These platforms have taken serious steps toward substituting the void left by the abstraction and defunding of porn and adult entertainment services from mainstream platforms like Tumblr, Patreon, and PayPal, etc.

They are enabling porn performers and amateur creators with dedicated safe places to not only sell adult content but also create long-lasting social connections with their fan bases.

I went through three popular websites (ManyVids, OnlyFans, and Clips4Sale) in this segment, and they are doing more than well, to be honest.

They are thriving with not just adult models, sex workers, and porn performers joining the league but also mainstream personalities making it to the list of celebrity content creators.

All three sites fall under the same category –the adult marketplace. That is, they generate revenue via commissions on the earnings made by creators, who can sell memberships, pay-per-view content, and engage fans into paid private services like sexting, phone sex, camming, custom video clips, and much more on the platform.

Let’s understand the business models and ROI of all three websites.

1. ManyVids

ManyVids introduces itself primarily as an adult clip site. However, it’s a complete adult marketplace with features to let anyone make money selling homemade adult content, fan merchandise, and a lot more.

In short, ManyVids houses almost every popular adult business model into one; be it amateur porn, camming, phone sex, sexting, or adult eCommerce.

The website receives over 200,000 unique daily visitors, and Alexa ranks it among the top 100,000 websites in the world. Here is a summary of some useful information about the platform:

· Services offered: Clips, Camming Phone Sex, Custom clips, Fanclubs

· Genders: Female, Male, Transgender, Couples

· Geoblocking: Yes

· Model Payouts: 60%-80%

· Payout Methods: Check, ACH, Wire, Paxum, Cosmo, Entropay

· Studio Accounts: Yes

· Founded in: 2014

ManyVids Business Model

The core ManyVids business model relies on three types of users:

· ManyVids Models

· ManyVids Studios

· Fans

Models and Studios are the content creators on the platform and fans represent the consumers’ community. However, the website relies on more than just content to generate revenue:

· Models can sell adult pictures, Snapchat access, Lingerie, signed pictures, sex toys, and much more to the fans.

· Models can sell adult videos, which brings in a majority of the total revenue for the platform.

· Models get paid to sext and operate phone sex with the users.

· Models get paid for creating custom content at the request of the users.

· Models get paid on a per-minute-basis for hosting private Skype shows.

· Models can also sell their membership subscriptions to the users.

In return, ManyVids charges a 20%-40% commission cut from the models and studios depending on the types of services. After deducting the applicable commissions, the platform pay-outs twice a month on every 1st and 16th.

How ManyVids Work?

Anyone can access the website by simply visiting the URL. The home-page showcases live shows and videos from trending segments and fetishes. Here you can find both free and paid videos.

Apart from this, the primary navigation tabs take you to dedicated segments, which represent the major services of the platform:

a) Vids: All videos on the website are grouped into different segments.

b) MV Stars: A list of all ManyVids models, which you can filter by multiple conditions.

c) Contest: Showcases top ManyVids models of month ranked under different categories.

d) MV Fetish: A dedicated catalog of all videos grouped according to different fetishes.

e) MV Social: A social media timeline displaying updates and posts from models and studios.

f) MV Live: The live webcam shows.

Users can also visit a model’s profile page from where they can:

· Check and purchase her videos and items on sale.

· Explore model’s timeline and community posts.

· Purchase membership subscription.

· Request video chat and phone call.

· Send tips and paid messages.

· Place custom video requests.

Apart from this, some of these services offer optional paid customizations of the user-experience. For example, you can place custom video orders with personalized requests.

There are different levels of optional customization, and adding each option increases the average cart value of a custom video requests. It’s a nice strategy to get certain users into paying more for the same services.

How Much Do ManyVids Models Earn?

ManyVids pays out 60% — 80% of the revenue generated by the creators.

· There is an 80% payout on tips, model subscriptions, and custom content orders.

· There is a 60% payout on everything else, except for the live webcam feature, which runs on a token system. 1 token = $0.06.

Models can set their own rates for everything they sell or offer on the platform. There is no ceiling to how much money can ManyVids models earn.

The earning is based on performance, which links directly to the popularity of an MV model. You get just as much you put into it and use different revenue channels to increase your bottom line.

2. OnlyFans

OnlyFans calls itself a content-sharing platform that allows creators to earn money from consumers directly.

The platform is meant to be used by all kinds of users, but it has come out primarily as a hub for adult content sharing and monetization, mainly amateur porn.

Although it’s used mostly by adult models, porn performers, and sex workers for content monetization, celebrities like Cardi B and Bella Thorne have also featured their OnlyFans profiles.

Websites receive over 200,000 new visitors daily and 6,000–8,000 new creators join every day. It currently has over 50 million users and 450,000 content creators.

· Services offered: Clips, Custom clips, Fanclubs, PPV messages.

· Genders: Female, Male, Transgender

· Geoblocking: Yes

· Model Payouts: 80%

· Payout Methods: Direct Transfer, International Bank Transfer, e-wallet, Paxum

· Studio Accounts: No

· Founded in: 2016

OnlyFans Business Model

OnlyFans features two types of users: Models and Fans.

Models are the content creators, where are fans the content consumers. It’s basically a premium social media platform where creators can monetize their fan base via membership subscriptions and selling content to them.

It is also used by models, musicians, artists, fitness experts, and all sorts of influencers.

OnlyFans allows creators to use the following monetization channels to make money:

· Model subscription: Fans need to pay a subscription fee to access a creator’s OnlyFans page, where they can see and interact with content feed and posts made by a creator.

· Pay-per-view messages: Creators can send and receive paid messages with attachments that unlock after paying.

· Pay-per-view content: users who do not want to monetize their subscription can also upload their videos and pictures under the pay-per-view model.

· Custom Videos: Fans can place custom video requests to the creators.

Models are free to decide the price-points of each of these monetization channels. OnlyFans takes a 20% fee from the creators on the revenue they generate on the platform via the above-mentioned channels.

How OnlyFans Work?

OnlyFans works as a premium social media platform. Somewhat similar to Twitter, except the influencers get options to monetize most of the aspects.

For example, subscription fee to follow individual creators charges to send messages to them, etc. You need to create a user account to access the website.

There are five main tabs on OnlyFans: Home, Notifications, Create, Chats, and Menu.

· Home: Content feed and shared posts from models you follow.

· Notifications: See your notifications.

· Create: Anyone can create and share content.

· Chats: Send direct messages to models and users you have subscribed to.

· Menu: Options to see and update profile details.

Apart from subscriptions, there are additional tools to generate further revenue, including PPV messages. Here, creators can send multimedia attachments and put a price tag that fans must pay to unlock.

How Much Do OnlyFans Models Earn?

OnlyFans pays out 80% of the earnings to the respective models. According to some studies, an average OnlyFans model earns about $180/month through subscriptions and PPV content. However, only 1% of the OnlyFans accounts generate about 33% of revenue.

Creators are free to choose the amount they want to charge for a subscription or PPV. But, after Bella Thorne’s controversy, OnlyFans has placed a cap on the maximum creators can charge.

It’s max $100 for PPV messages, $50 for PPV posts, $100 for a single tip. The minimum subscription fee one can charge is $4.99/month, while the maximum is $49.99/month.

Influencers and celebrities with decent popularity generate the biggest revenue. According to OnlyFans revenue calculator, you could earn between $5,200 and $26,000 per month, if an estimate of 1% — 5% of your average 25K social followers subscribe to your OnlyFans. This is in addition to the earnings from tips and paid messages.

Although OnlyFans uses much lesser monetization channels than ManyVids, it has grown in revenue and popularity due to mainstream celebrities joining the platform.

Celebrity Bella Thorne earned over $1 million in her first 24 hours on OnlyFans. She left the platform in a short while, claiming it was just an experiment for a documentary.

In August 2020, OnlyFans reportedly paid out about $2 Billion to its creators.

3. Clips4Sale

Clips4Sale, as the name suggests, is a dedicated adult clips marketplace. It boasts of easy to use workflow where amateur creators and porn studios can upload and sell adult content seamlessly.

If you are looking for a platform dedicated to selling adult videos, Clips4Sale is a great alternative to other websites that deal in more than just video clips.

The website drives over 20 million unique monthly visitors. You can sign-up as an individual seller or studio. It is well known for fetish-based homemade and studio-produced porn delivered in both digital and DVD modes.

· Services offered: Clips, DVDs, Images.

· Genders: Female, Male, Transgender

· Geoblocking: Yes

· Model Payouts: 60%-75%

· Payout Methods: ACH, Check, and Wire Transfer

· Studio Accounts: Yes

· Founded in: 2003

Clips4Sale Business Model

Clips4Sale features two types of users: Studio and end-users.

Studios are individuals or producers who upload and sell adult videos, while end-users can simply purchase the content.

It’s basically a marketplace, where users can find fetish-based porn videos from an individual as well as professional creators.

Clips4Sale allows studios to monetize their videos by simply putting a price tag that users need to pay before they can download them. Producers/Studios are free to put any price tag on their content.

How Clips4Sale Work?

Clips4Sale features a fetish-based content discovery model, where users can use different filters to find their favorite videos. Users can browse listed videos in three ways:

· Clips: Discover from a catalog of all videos on the website, apply different filters.

· Studios: Visit studio pages and browse their videos listing.

· Categories: Browse by popular porn categories.

To purchase a video, users click on the ‘Add to cart’ button and checkout to make an online payment. Buyers can checkout with or without a user account; just like any eCommerce website.

How Much Do Clips4Sale Studios Earn?

The studios and producers generally use multiple content distribution platforms to sell videos to as many consumers. The entire income of the website is through commissions it charges on per-sale made on the platform.

The websites pay 60% royalty on all Clip sales, 75% on Video/DVD sales. Reportedly, top Clips4sale studios make over $30,000 per month.

Which One Is Best For You?

You must consider two critical scales to measure the effectiveness of all these websites for your content:

· What type of content or service do you want to sell?

· How much revenue you can share?

What Do You Want To Sell?

· If you are looking to sell only fetish-based clips, Clips4Sale with its pay-per-download model can offer you great exposure.

Besides, you can also re-sell your videos on other platforms. Clips4Sale is more suitable for studios and professional content producers.

· If you want to sell fetish-based clips, and also want to build an online fan base, ManyVids’ social networking features are great for this cause.

· If you are an amateur and looking for a platform where you can sell not just your homemade clips but also maximize your earnings via multiple revenue channels like sexting, phone sex, tips, and premium social media networking, ManyVids is the platform to go.

· If you have decent popularity in social media, modeling, camming, porn industry, etc., you can use OnlyFans to monetize your fan base. You can rely on membership subscriptions, tributes, and custom video requests to maximize your revenue.

How Much Revenue You Can Share?

Commissions on all three websites are almost similar. All popular adult clip sites charge an average of 30%-40% cuts, which is not that bad. However, if you still want to save this 30%-40% of your revenue, you can start your own adult Fanclub marketplace, but remember, this is a serious undertaking.

Proceed only if you have a business objective in mind and can spare the dedication, patience, and marketing skills it demands. Nonetheless, if you are already doing a good job on any of these platforms, you probably possess these qualities by default.

Create Your Own Website And Keep 100% Of The Revenue

You can use an adult Fanclub script called xFans to build your own websites like OnlyFans, ManyVids, or Clips4Sale.

You need not possess any technical skills to build your website using xFans. It comes with an open-source code, which you can install on a web-hosting-server and follow a graphical user interface to set up your website in minutes.

xFans supports most of the revenue channels that you can see on OnlyFans, ManyVids, and Clips4Sale.

If you are looking to set up your adult content business, building your own website is the first step in this direction. You can sell not only your own content and services but also invite other creators to your website.

You can leverage social media and adult ad networks to promote your website and invite creators. Besides, creators on the discussed three platforms would also not mind yet another website where they can sell and increase their overall revenue.