This month, Pornhub, the only website for which you have its own bookmarks sub-folder, is celebrating the 10-year anniversary of its Model Program. The program, packed to the brim with over 100,000 models, has opened up a whole new revenue stream for influencers who aren't exactly like the ones you might find on Instagram or Snapchat. Rather, these influencers have earned millions of dollars and billions of video views as creators on a site that reaches over 100 million viewers a day.
While these influencers are adult performers, the revenue streams and reach remains within the realm of true influence. Pornhub, to its credit, continues to improve its own platform in order to increase the revenue and security of being an independent performer. Instead of peppering videos with more ads or finding a way to bilk users, Pornhub has instead decided to launch Fan Clubs, in celebration of the anniversary of the Model Program. Monetization for creators is a high priority of Pornhub, as its power as the porn site has a heavy dependence on its community users and creators.
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Which is what you'd be paying for with Fan Clubs. Fan Clubs will allow creators to find new revenue streams aside from just ad revenue, receiving tips and selling clips. Fan Clubs subscriptions will open the floodgate of options for content creators and models. Products offered may include exclusive videos and photos, text-based posts (because we all have fantasies regarding early 1990s AOL chat rooms), discounts on for-sale content, one-on-one messaging, and other perks like texting, Snapchat access or whatever the models can think to include. This creates a higher level of interaction with fans and viewers, and by proxy, a type of influencer you might not be paying attention to.
“Today, the amount of talented content creators who are looking to monetize their content has increased tenfold from ten years ago," said Corey Price, VP, Pornhub. "Because of this, direct-to-consumer distribution methods have become increasingly popular. The addition of Fan Clubs will now enable models to sell monthly subscriptions to their content, further increasing and diversifying their revenue streams. As we continue to make additions to the Model Program, our main focus remains to empower content creators and help them make the most of their offerings."
Influencers are individuals who have an influence over potential customers that is worth paying for. While in this situation the customers are directly paying the content creators, it speaks to the grander scale of creating customer-focused content in order to sell a product or service to a large audience. With 100 million viewers a day, there is no doubt that the content creators on Pornhub have influence through sheer numbers. And now they have more options to monetize that influence with Fan Clubs.
Content creators are of course stoked about this development in their monetization options. Said pornstar Brandi Love, "Give your fans the most unique opportunity to get to know you better. The best part? You can set whatever price you want — another opportunity to monetize. Give your fans what they want, which is more of you!" In between dreaming of fighting in the UFC and beard maintenance, pornstar Colby Jansen excitedly echoed that sentiment. "It’s gonna be great," he said. "It’s gonna give me an chance to engage with my fans, grow my business, increase my earnings, and offer my fans new engaging content. I’m very excited for Fan Clubs on Pornhub!"
Of course, this means we're paying for porn again. Yet, unlike the early 2000s, there seems to be more of a choice within the marketplace, even if that marketplace is behind the walls of castle Pornhub. View free videos all you want, or pay for more access to the models and content creators for things like social interaction and exclusive personalized content. There is no judgement on how you want to live your life and spend your paycheck. Entertainment through art (no matter the medium) is within the scope of what it means to be human.
