The British platform Onlyfans, known for its direct monetization of adult content, is said to be Reuters in the process of being bought by the American Forest Road Company fund on the basis of a valuation of $ 8 billion, or around 7.4 billion euros. If the negotiations are still underway, the operation marks a strategic turning point for the company, which already had in 2022 to go out on the stock market. It also reveals persistent tensions around the economy of content at the border of social norms.
Spectacular growth, still uncertain legitimacy
Launched in 2016 by Timothy Stokely with the support of his father Guy and his brother Thomas, Onlyfans aimed to allow creators to monetize their content via a subscription. In 2018, Leonid Radvinsky, already at the head of Myfreecams, bought 75 % of the Mother Fenix International. Under its leadership, the platform is moving towards NSFW content, until it becomes a global reference for adult entertainment.
Onlyfans has seen its use explode during confinements linked to the COVID. In a few months, it has established itself as a privileged channel for creators of paid content, with a strong dominant on sexual videos. The model is based on a monthly subscription paid directly to the creators, punctured by 20 % by the platform. This mechanism demonstrated formidable efficiency with $ 485.5 million in profit in 2023, up 20 %, according to Fenix International, its parent company.
But this economic performance is not enough to remove reluctance. The positioning of the platform remains problematic for part of institutional investors, advertisers and technological partners. In 2021, a first explicit content withdrawal movement, announced and then abandoned in a few days, revealed the crest line on which Onlyfans evolves.
Widen the use without denying the foundations
Since then, the strategy has changed. The company, still owned by the entrepreneur Leonid Radvinsky, seeks to diversify. Cooks, sports coaches, artists or comedians are gradually highlighted. The objective is to expand the user base and demonstrate the versatility of the direct-to-fan model, where many platforms fight to build a lasting model.
This repositioning does not erase the initial heritage. Because if Onlyfans moves away from the image of an exclusively pornographic platform, it does not deny it completely.
Forest Road relies on a progressive transition
Forest Road is no stranger to the file. In 2022, several of its leaders were involved in an attempted IPO via SPAC, aborted in the face of markets. Today, the fund returns with a more classic approach. Buy, restructure, prepare an outing. S
The challenge is to change perception without making historical creators flee. Too frank rupture could dry up growth. A too shy evolution would condemn any extended monetization project or future IPO.
An atypical profitability in the Creator Economy
The contrast is striking, where platforms like Substack, Patreon or even Twitch struggle to reach balance, Onlyfans displays an extraordinary net profitability. Its central position in the value chain, without dependence on advertisers, makes it a school case in an economy of very fragile creations.
But this profitability has a price, that of stigma, algorithmic banishment, partial exclusion from conventional financial circuits. It remains to be seen whether new governance, progressive repositioning and better controlled communication will be enough to redraw the contours of a company with spectacular financial results.
