COVID-19 Is Fundamentally Reshaping The Porn Industry — For The Better

While much of the business world is still suffering under COVID-19, sex-related businesses are proving countercyclical. Over the past two months, sex toy companies, cam sites and porn platforms have reported record traffic, and in some cases, record sales. 

But the COVID-related shutdown of the porn industry has forced another upheaval, as thousands of performers, out-of-work but equipped with massive social media followings, have used new technology to seize the means of production. 

Performers have filmed their own content before, but the paucity of new studio releases and the rise of new platforms have given adult performers increased power in the market, sidelining traditional gatekeepers. With porn sets closed for the time being, individuals and cohabitating performers are the only ones who can produce safely.

“Everything has aligned in favor of the performer,” says MelRose Michaels, a brand ambassador for premium social network FanCentro and a top-selling model on the platform.  “Increased traffic, increased time to expedite the learning curve of self shooting and editing, and more platforms available to distribute on than ever before.”

Since March, mainstream performers have flocked to premium social networks like FanCentro, IsMyGirl and OnlyFans as a way to generate income. FanCentro says new account sign-ups surged 83% in the first weeks of the quarantine. By April, OnlyFans had even made it into a Beyoncé lyric.

These premium social networks, or ‘premiums’, let consumers interact with and purchase content directly from the performers who create it. For a small monthly fee, often around $10, fans can ‘follow’ a particular creator (or “influencer” as FanCentro calls them) and get access to their private feed of self-produced content. 

Michaels says creators on the platform average between $500 and $30,000 a month creating short videos from their home, mostly on their phone. For adult performers, they have steadily gained as an alternative to studio shoots, making their long days and thousand-dollar paychecks increasingly less appealing. 

More traditional industries have watched as millennials and other workers — from Lyft drivers or YouTube influencers —  flock to jobs that provide flexibility, independence and a direct relationship between work and reward. Why would the porn industry be any different?

“[The] majority of performers earn more off their content from premium platforms like FanCentro than they do shooting scenes for studios,” says Michaels. “You cut out all the middle men and the performer reaps all the rewards.” 

Michaels takes the business seriously, rewarding high-value consumers with immediacy and meticulously tracking her release schedule. Those who subscribe to her private Snapchat through FanCentro get a live video from her each night. That live clip will be sent out a week later to fans who ‘follow’ her on the site, but haven’t paid to subscribe, as a pay-per-view DM. A week later she’ll post the clip to her own subscription fan site, and eventually distribute it to third-party clip sites that allow fans to own it.

Michaels’ content release strategy aims to maximize revenue and minimize piracy. It’s Hollywood fused with the DIY, brand-owning strategies of influencers of YouTube and Twitch. (Before these platforms existed, many adult creators tried to use non-sex focused platforms like Instagram or Patreon to reach fans, only to be banned due to restrictive policies around sex-related content.)

Like Instagram influencers who connect with highly engaged audiences better than big brands, premium “influencers” have a connection to fans in a way that a studio or tube site never could. In a world under lockdown that personal connection is more vital than ever.

Premiums have also expanded beyond adult performers. FanCentro says it has over 17,000 creator accounts, most of whom have never set foot on a porn set. (After McDonald’s workers were laid off in the UK in March, IsMyGirl offered the chain’s employees bonus payouts if they signed up and claims nearly a hundred did.) 

Amateur sites like xHamster have existed for over a decade, as have amateur cams sites like Chaturbate, but premiums bill themselves as private fan sites rather than porn, and don’t seem to carry the same stigma with creators or consumers. In most cases, sex isn’t even mentioned on the sign-up forms and the pitch focuses on how to monetize a mainstream following.

Many performers have taken advantage of premiums, but others are still facing lost work and wages from the extended shutdown. In an effort to support them, the Free Speech Coalition, a trade group for the porn industry, hosted a Zoom webinar to help performers adapt to the new market. The “Surviving During a Pandemic” live session featured Michaels with other experts in cams and premiums.

Asa Akira, a former AVN Performer of the Year who serves as a brand ambassador for Pornhub, participated in the session, and encouraged studio performers to make the switch. According to Akira, in her ten-year career she’s never made more money than she does now with premiums.

“This is the best time to get into porn,” she said. “A lot of the power is in the performers’ hands now. We’re able to create our own content, produce and collect royalties, which was something we never really could do before.”

Owning content and collecting royalties gives performers passive income, which can translate to more opportunities to grow their careers, build equity or continue education. It gives performers more control over their working conditions, from consent on-set to how they’re marketed. These are all effective draws even after porn sets are allowed to resume. 

These new representations of sex, divorced from stock set-ups and unrealistic positions, may give their audience a more personal and nuanced version of sexuality. Something for which ethical and feminist directors have been striving for decades.

“Fantasy is a wonderful escape from reality,” says sex therapist and author Dr. David Ley, Ph.D.  ”These new platforms offer access to depictions of sex that include the more complicated and nuanced reality of sex, it’s more likely to help naive viewers learn about the complicated, wonderful reality of sex.” 

“It’s a similar shift we saw as more people stopped watching cable television and began watching YouTube,” says Michaels. “People are craving raw, unpolished, access to whoever they’re fans of. And that is also happening in porn right now. I think the shutdown will further accelerate that transition. I think studios are going to have to find a way to adapt or die going forward.”

Critics of the porn industry have sometimes portrayed it as a source of sexist stereotypes and exploitative working conditions. Setting aside the accuracy of those claims, premium social platforms are turning those arguments on their heads. In reacting to a public health crisis, the business of sex is poised to emerge healthier than ever.