What happens to OnlyFans now?
The death of the platform's owner, Leonid Radvinsky, leaves an uncertain future for the world's content creators.
The death of Leonid Radvinsky - the owner of OnlyFans - raises a lot of questions about the future of the fan-subscription platform.
Born in Ukraine, Radvinsky grew up in Chicago and subsequently made his home in Florida. He launched his first business when he was 17 - a website referral business. He was a tech entrepreneur who understood the value that could be created through adult industry-related traffic on the internet, and wasn't afraid of exploiting some of the edgier aspects of the internet.
He bought OnlyFans in 2018 - soon after the platform was launched in 2016 by its UK-based founders. He subsequently launched the MyFreeCams web-cam platform.
It was under Radvinsky's ownership that OnlyFans enabled adult industry content-creators to distribute directly to their audience through a fan-subscription model. Other fan-subscription channels have since emerged, but it's OnlyFans that is still the major player in the market.
According to its most recent filings, OnlyFans has over 377 million subscribers and generates USD$1.4bn in annual revenue.
Widely reported to be a multi-billionaire, Radvinsky was only 43 when he died - the cause of death was cancer. The statement released by OnlyFans indicated that it was not a recent diagnosis, that this was something that he had been dealing with for some time.
But what will happen to OnlyFans now that Radvinsky has died?
Back in 2021, under pressure from regulatory authorities, OnlyFans announced that it was going to remove adult content from the platform. This decision was reversed only a few days later - it was never really clear why Radvinsky had changed his mind or why the business no longer felt that the move was necessary.
There are reports that in recent months, Radvinsky had been looking to sell OnlyFans but at the time of his death, the business remained owned by Fenix International Limited - a private holding company now controlled by Radvinsky's estate.
Radvinsky is survived by his wife, Katie Chudnovsky. Little is known of Radvinsky's personal affairs but it's likely that Fenix International is controlled by a trust, of which Chudnovsky is the beneficiary.
While nothing is going to happen quickly, the most likely outcome will be that Fenix International will seek to sell OnlyFans. That's probably going to be bad news for content-creators as any new owner is going to struggle to maintain the platform as a safe-haven for adult content.
There's a few reasons why a change of ownership is probably going to be bad news. OnlyFans is worth a lot of money. There's not many tech entrepreneurs out there who have the cash to buy the business who would also be happy to run an operation focused on adult content. Regulators will see a change of ownership as an opportunity to bring pressure on the new owners to get tougher on the moderation of the content being distributed. Payment companies are also very risk-averse when it comes to adult content - this is also likely to be a problem for any new owner.
What's the way forward? It's time to hedge our bets and diversity. In the short-term, OnlyFans continues to operate unchanged. But we should all be investigating other fan-subscription options to ensure that we're not left high-and-dry if OnlyFans is no longer able to support adult content on its platform.
Everything you need to know about OnlyFans
One of the seismic shifts in the adult entertainment landscape in recent years has been the emergence of fan-subscription platforms.
There’s a range of fan-subscription platforms out there, but the big player in the market is OnlyFans.
Why subscribe to porn-stars on OnlyFans?
A fan-subscription platform such as OnlyFans creates a direct relationship between the performer and the audience. The performer creates the content, publishes it to the platform, and you reward the performer by subscribing to their content feed.
This removes the gatekeeping role that has traditionally been played by porn studios.
The result has been the democratisation and diversification of who can be a porn star.
As an audience member, not only does this enable you to build a direct connection to your favourite content creators – who are more likely to respond to your messages if you’re one of their subscribers – but you can also request bespoke content that delivers exactly the kind of fantasies that you’re looking to explore.
How do I start an OnlyFans channel?
1. Define your brand
The fan-subscription business is competitive, and it takes a lot of work to be successful. Try approaching it with a marketing perspective – what makes you interesting? Why might people want to subscribe to the content that you’re creating? How do you ensure that the people who might be into your content know you exist?
2. Set up your account
As well as all the basics of providing the information required to be able to run a fan-subscription account, make sure that you understand the terms and conditions that you’re signing up to.
With a site such as OnlyFans, there’s a surprising range of things that you aren’t able to include in your content. It’s important that you don’t inadvertently breach the terms and conditions, as you could easily have your account terminated.
Having the right equipment and knowing how to produce your content is also an important first step.
3. Determine your pricing
Pricing is not a one-size-fits-all approach. A good starting point is to look at other content creators for a ballpark. There’s no point in pricing yourself out of the market before you get started.
Creators often offer a basic subscription level but then have options such as premium videos or services that can be purchased.
Platforms such as OnlyFans also enable you to run discounts and promotions.
Your fan-subscription channel is a business, and you need to run it like one to get the best results.
How much do OnlyFans creators make?
There are plenty of successful content creators out there who have made big money by giving their subscribers what they want.
However, you have to manage your expectations. The big money earners have big audiences and are leveraging their social media presence. If you’re starting from scratch, you are not going to see that kind of success overnight.
Subscriber churn is also a feature of the fan-subscription format. Someone may subscribe to you for a month, check out what you’re offering and then move on to someone else. Most content creators report high levels of subscriber churn. That means you’re always working hard to retain your existing subscribers and attract new subscribers to your channel.
4. Promote your account
A fan-subscription platform such as OnlyFans doesn’t do any promotion for its content creators. That’s all down to you.
You have to use every tool available to build your brand, increase awareness of your content, and showcase your personality so that people want to see more of what you have to offer.
Social media is the obvious starting point – you’re going to want to have a presence on every available social media platform, but you’ll find that you need to tailor your social media posts to suit the platform. For example, what you post on TikTok will be different from what you post on Twitter – that all takes time and effort.
Collaborations with other content-creators are an important part of your promotional strategy. Not only are collaborations a great way to generate content, but they also help you reach people who are likely to be your target market.
5. Engage with your audience and keep creating content
Content creators will generally put a lot of effort into audience engagement – it’s important for subscriber retention. This means responding to messages, hosting Q&A sessions, doing whatever it takes to build a relationship and a sense of community, and encouraging your subscribers to stick around and continue supporting your work.
Gareth Johnson