When OnlyFans Blew Up: The Timeline of Its Rise

💡 Why everyone asks “when did OnlyFans become popular?”

If you’ve ever wondered why OnlyFans feels like it arrived overnight — but also like it’s been everywhere forever — you’re not alone. Folks ask this because the platform’s rise rewired adult content, influencer income, and how mainstream creators monetize attention. This piece walks you through the timeline, the tipping points, and the real-world signals that turned a 2016 startup into a global revenue machine by the early 2020s.

I’ll pull together hard data from public reporting, media coverage, and creator anecdotes so you get a clear timeline, the business logic behind the boom, and practical takeaways if you’re a creator or brand watching the space.

📊 Quick snapshot: How OnlyFans climbed the ladder

The table shows the clear inflection: OnlyFans was a niche paid-content site after its 2016 launch, then exploded during COVID when in-person gigs disappeared and people chased digital income. By late 2023, reporting put annual revenue at roughly US$1.3 billion and public tallies described millions of creators and hundreds of millions of fans — the platform had shifted from underground to mainstream money machine, changing how adult and niche creators monetize attention.

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💡 Why the timing mattered: three forces that made OnlyFans blow up

• Creator-first monetization: OnlyFans locked a simple truth — people will pay for exclusive access. Instead of ad revenue and shaky brand partnerships, creators got subscriptions, tips, and paid DMs. That control mattered.

• Tube-site fatigue + moderation gaps: Traditional porn sites offered free content and low payouts. OnlyFans flipped that by enabling paywalls and personalized content — a business model that actually paid creators.

• Pandemic acceleration: With gigs and studios shut, creators needed income fast. OnlyFans’ model was a near-immediate way to convert followers into dollars, and many mainstream personalities tested the platform during this time.

Those three combined created a tipping point where growth became its own signal: more creators incentivized more signups, headlines drove curiosity, and mainstream names made the platform culturally legible.

🔍 Where mainstream culture fit in (real examples)

Mainstream figures hitting OnlyFans helped normalize it beyond the adult vertical. Reports and recent coverage show non-traditional creators making significant money and experimenting with niche paid content — from TV winners to actors who use the platform for very specific fandom services.

John Whaite, a Great British Bake Off winner, is a clear example of a mainstream profile using OnlyFans for additional revenue and eventually stepping away as life shifted — reported earnings of over US$250k in under a year underline how diverse creator incomes can be on the platform (Yahoo, 2025-09-18).

Local media and longform reporting have also probed the platform’s ecosystem, from positive stories about creator earnings to critiques of exploitative middlemen and moderation gaps (WBUR, 2025-09-18).

💬 Business reality: numbers that matter

• Reported scale to Nov 2023: ~US$1.3B revenue, ~4M creators, ~300M fans (public reporting summarized in major outlets).
• Operating margin reportedly high (~50% in cited reporting), which explains market interest and valuation chatter.
• Celebrity and non-adult creators can and do earn big — some pivot on/off based on career moves, brand concerns, or changing goals.

Those figures explain why buyers, investors, and headline writers keep circling the platform — it’s not just cultural, it’s a serious commercial engine.

Extended analysis and what’s next (2025 forecast)

OnlyFans made paid intimacy mainstream. Moving forward, expect three trends:

1. Niches keep winning: micro-specializations — niche fetishes, hobby-driven premium content, or highly personal consulting — will outperform generic content as discovery and retention tighten.

2. Platform fatigue & diversification: creators are hedging. Reports show many creators and celebrities trying other platforms or building direct commerce (merch, courses) to avoid single-platform risk.

3. Regulation and moderation pressure: as platforms scale, so do legal and reputational risks. Expect ongoing scrutiny around payments, content moderation, and business practices. That’s why some creators shift strategies or stop using the platform when it no longer matches their goals (see celebrity cases reported in 2025 news).

The market still rewards those who can productize a fan base — but the edge now is long-term brand building, multiple revenue streams, and safe, compliant operations.

🙋 Frequently Asked Questions

❓ When did OnlyFans first get mainstream media attention?

💬 It started getting big press around 2020–2021 after the pandemic spike, then again when mainstream celebrities and public figures began using it — coverage peaked as revenue and creator counts were reported publicly.

🛠️ Can mainstream creators make a sustainable living on OnlyFans today?

💬 Yes, some do — but sustainability depends on niche, consistency, and traffic sources. Many successful creators diversify into products, tips, DMs, and cross-platform funnels.

🧠 Is OnlyFans’ growth over, or will a new platform replace it?

💬 Growth plateaus are normal for any mature platform. Competition exists, but platform stickiness, payment infrastructure, and brand recognition give OnlyFans an advantage — unless regulation or payment blockages force big changes.

🧩 Final Thoughts…

OnlyFans didn’t become popular overnight — its fame is the sum of a subscription-native model, pandemic timing, creator-first economics, and mainstream celebrity experiments. From a 2016 startup to a headline-making business by 2023, it rewired monetization for creators and forced other platforms to rethink paywalls. If you’re a creator or a brand, the smart play is to treat OnlyFans as one lane in a wider creator strategy: monetize directly, diversify, and keep control.

📚 Further Reading

Here are 3 recent articles that give more context to this topic — all selected from verified sources. Feel free to explore 👇

🔸 “Sophie Rain’s ‘Gooning for Good’ Campaign Will See All Onlyfans Income Donated to Families In Need”
🗞️ Source: Complex – 📅 2025-09-18
🔗 Read Article

🔸 “John Whaite OnlyFans Massive Earnings in Less Than a Year”
🗞️ Source: RealityTea – 📅 2025-09-18
🔗 Read Article

🔸 “The Transactional Age: Spark Foundry’s Josh Green Chats With OnlyFans’ Ruby May About Commoditised Relationships”
🗞️ Source: B&T – 📅 2025-09-18
🔗 Read Article

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📌 Disclaimer

This post blends publicly available reporting with editorial analysis and some AI assistance. It’s for information and discussion — not legal or financial advice. Double-check details if you’re making business decisions. If anything looks off, ping me and I’ll fix it.