✍️Problem Statements

For Users

Users are currently expected to choose between consuming cheap, pre-made content, available via tube sites/erotic literature and audio sites, or paying a massive premium for some form of customization or interaction via creator platforms and cam sites - there is no affordable, interactive, personalized, consistently available offering.

Moreover, attempted solutions to fill this gap through the alleged use of 'chatters' by platforms like OnlyFans comes with serious privacy issues, that have recently led to lawsuits being brought by those users that feel defrauded and have had their privacy infringed on.

Some users also experience guilt from consuming content that they are unsure of how ethically it has been created and whether through their consumption of the content, have contributed to unethical and/or harmful practises.

tl;dr: the user experience is archaic: impersonal, often inaccessible, ethically murky, and riddled with privacy concerns.

For Creators and the Creator Industry

For creators, there is simply not enough time in the day for them to be able to effectively monetise their brand at the level that they could, or would be able to, if their value wasn't so intrinsically tied to their own self.

As a result, many creators either are not monetising their brand as well as they want to, or they are turning to a combination of creator platforms and management teams, to help them scale.

In doing so, creators are often exposed to different types of risks; some include management agencies engaging in exploitative practises, whilst others involve the centralized platforms they've built their businesses on upending their ability to monetize through policy changes.

Even if creators manage to find a management agency that doesn't exploit them, they are often charged huge fees (20-50% of total revenue) and also face pressure from banks in a personal capacity (even executives at the platforms themselves face the same).

As explored in Origin of Oh, creators have in the past tended to sign away their rights to content created by, or with, them. As a result, they often do not have any rights to remove the content from the internet. Whilst this is relatively standard across other entertainment verticals such as film, music and TV - the intimate nature of this content and the taboos associated with it mean there are often situations where creators want to move on from their past, but have no power or right to, which can be very damaging for them.

tl;dr: creators struggle to optimise their income due to difficulty in scaling, exploitative management practices, unpredictable platform policies, high fees, and financial pressures from banks; as well as tending to not own the rights to their content and, by extension, the privacy of their own body and intimate moments

For the Spicy Industry

The industry itself has been going through a rough time (no pun intended) - increased regulations (US, UK, EU), banks blocking the flow of funds, payment processors charging huge fees (~10% compared to typical ~3%), or shutting down services entirely, in turn forcing platforms to remove ~80% of their content; changing societal views on the male-centric view of adult content and huge costs of moderation (80% of OnlyFans' employees are moderators) which isn't accurate enough to prevent illegal content being hosted anyway and a thriving black market undercutting the industry's profitability.

tl;dr: the industry has massive content, moderation, regulation, public relations and financial issues.

For Excluded Economic Participants

While OnlyFans' models earnings are very well publicised, the downsides and risks of becoming a creator are also well-known - some of which is discussed in the Origin of Oh section - which span family disownment, negative effects on other aspects of creators' careers, through to death threats.

Outside of being a creator, or involved directly in the content creation process, there are limited ways for everyday people to invest in or monetize the industry. There are only two publicly-traded companies involved in adult content, a NASDAQ-listed strip club group (RCI Hospitality Holdings) and Playboy.

Therefore unless you are consolidating smaller platforms into your empire, buying massive platforms and cashing out hundreds of millions in dividends a year, or taking over adult empires for 9-10 figures - then there isn't much way for everyday people to get in on the fun.

This locks out the majority of the population from participating financially in the space, in a pretty unique case, with there being less publicly-traded adult businesses (<5), than defence (50-100), alcohol (50-100), gambling (100-200), or marijuana (200-300) - making it the smallest publicly-traded (legal) sector by company count, despite serving ~2 billion users annually worldwide.

tl;dr: while creator earnings on platforms like OnlyFans are highly publicized, the risks - to family, privacy, careers and their safety - are significant deterrents to entering the space. Beyond creators, everyday people face limited opportunities to invest in or profit from the adult industry, as it’s the smallest publicly-traded legal sector, despite its massive global user base (~2 billion annually)