The number of adult content creators doing live camming to earn money may have dropped in the past few years, according to a new report.
The 2024 State of the Creator Report, a survey-based data report made by the US-based SWR Data company, also suggested that adult content creators were relying on Twitter/X for business promotion less than in the past. Furthermore, the report found that the average age of adult content creators seems to be increasing, despite the sector’s portrayal in much of the media as incredibly youth-focused.
The report was compiled from survey responses from over 400 adult content creators, answering questions about their demographics and how they worked creating and promoting content. 74 percent of respondents were from the US and 13 percent were from the UK or Europe, meaning that the report is very much a snapshot of the western world’s adult content creator industry.
Mike Stabile and MelRose Michaels from SWR Data acknowledged that the report shouldn’t be considered the final word on adult creator data.
“How do you study a population that is new, quickly evolving, has porous boundaries, and members who may not identify as part of it?”, they wrote in the report.
They added: “Is this survey the definitive word on what the adult creator population actually looks like? No. But we hope it at least starts to get us there.”
Working beyond camming
43.1 percent of survey respondents said that they did camming as part of their adult content work: a figure down around 15 percent from 2022, the last time SWR Data made a creator report.
This may seem mildly surprising, considering the seeming popularity of live camming sites in recent years. The change is likely due to creators exploring the ever-increasing options for earning through adult content. 84.5 percent of respondents said they earned through fan sites, such as OnlyFans, which are often more attractive to newcomer creators than camming.
The rise in popularity of fetish and kink content could also partly explain what appears to be a slight move away from cams. 48 percent of respondents said they created fetish and kink content to earn money: a figure that has risen by around 70 percent since the 2022 survey.
X loses creator shine
In 2022, 97.3 percent of the adult content creator report’s respondents said they used X (or Twitter, as it was known then) to promote their work. That figure dropped to 90 percent for the 2024 report. X use among adult content creators may have dropped further since the 2024 report’s release, as its data was collated before the recent big social media migration from X to Bluesky.
X has long been an important tool for adult content creators, as unlike most other major social media platforms, it allows porn content. Suspicions that it’s become increasingly proliferated by bots, and that human engagement on the platform seems to be diminishing, its importance appears to be fading.
That’s not to say that an adult content creator exodus is occurring quite yet. In the 2024 report 50 percent of respondents said that Twitter was the most important social media platform for their business. Instagram, which does not allow nudity or explicit content, was in second place, with just 16 percent, showing just how isolated X is as a porn-friendly major social media platform.
The rise of Telegram in the adult content world was also reflected in the 2024 report. Use of the messaging app among adult content creators for their work was 27 percent among respondents: up 15 percent from 2022. Creators can use Telegram to sell one-on-one chats, distribute photos and videos and build fan communities. Some creators also use Telegram as an earning platform for AI chatbot versions of themselves.
“This isn’t an industry full of impressionable nubiles, but a truly ‘adult’ work force that deserves to be taken seriously.”
SWR Data
Age is just a (rising) number
93 percent of respondents surveyed for the new creator report were over the age of 24. Only seven percent said they were in the 18-24 age bracket: a figure that has plummeted from 19 percent in the 2022 report.
There are probably many reasons for what appears to be a trend for the average age of adult content creators to be rising. Those in their late teens or early 20s may, for some reason, be less likely to respond to surveys these days. Those present among the influx of young porn creators entering the industry during the Covid 19 pandemic, as other work options dissipated, may have left the industry as the world opened up again.
Or, perhaps, older people are now seeing adult content creation as a more viable, respectable career. Mike Stabile and MelRose Michaels from SWR Data said: “This isn’t an industry full of impressionable nubiles, but a truly ‘adult’ work force that deserves to be taken seriously.”
The 2024 report showed that the adult content creator industry is still very much female-led, with 73.9 percent of respondents identifying as female. 14.3 percent said they were male, with 7.8 percent saying they were non-binary.
A useful snapshot
As the report’s creators have said, this data insight doesn’t show the full picture of the adult content creator industry, or even the industry just in the Western world. It does, however, suggest potential trends in this fast-moving sector that could help guide those working within it.
The report’s makers said they hope that for creators, it “gives you some perspective on the community that surrounds you – and some insight as to how to build your business.”
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