Published March 26, 2025
Dirty deeds really are done dirt cheap. The refrain from AC/DC’s song about an affordable hitman applies to other sordid endeavors, such as online sex work.
Recent reports reveal that OnlyFans—largely driven by pornography—is booming, but that most of its “content creators” are not sharing in the bounty. The new numbers show that content producers make, on average, about $108 a month—and that is misleadingly high, because the distribution is extremely top-heavy. The top 1% of content producers reportedly earn about $50,000 a year, while the top 0.1% rake in about 15 times that—around $750,000. Meanwhile one (very pro-porn and prostitution) outlet reported that earning only “about $20 a month” is still enough to put someone “in the top 29% of creators.”
This reporting confirms a 2021 New York Times finding that on OnlyFans “90 percent of creators take home less than $12,000 a year for what can amount to a full-time job.” The paper’s reporting on webcam sites suggests a similar dynamic, with a few models earning substantial sums from livestreaming strip shows and sex acts, but most earning very little.
Click here to continue reading.
Nathanael Blake, Ph.D. is a Fellow in the Life and Family Initiative at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. His first book, Victims of the Revolution: How Sexual Liberation Hurts Us All, was published by Ignatius Press in Spring 2025. As a cultural commentator, Dr. Blake has published hundreds of articles at outlets including Public Discourse, World Opinions, The Federalist, Catholic World Report, and the University Bookman.
