We talked to adult creators about the affordability crisis hitting adult content.
What does porn have in common with airline fares, gas, groceries and insurance? Well, you’re probably paying more for it than you used to.
The fetish content site Clips4Sale released a brand-new Kink Consumer Index showing that the price of many types of fetish clips has risen dramatically since 2020, especially porn clips featuring fetishes such as foot play and femdoms.
The index found that, since 2020, the price of videos about boot worship have gone up the most (56%), followed by wrestling (45%), as well as high heels (34%), dirty feet (36%) and foot tickling (33%).
“Kink and fetish are impacted by the same economic forces that drive global markets: the cost of goods, supply and demand, and shifting consumer trends,” Avery Martin, a spokesperson for Clips4Sale, said in a statement. Martin added that the relative competition in non-fetish adult content has kept prices relatively stable, while “kink and fetish are specialized skill sets that carry value.”
She added, “Fetish creators should be recognized as the experts that they are.”
Of course, the price of porn isn’t created in a vacuum. Several content creators who spoke with Playboy said that they’ve either had to raise prices or have considered raising prices due to higher overhead costs related to producing their content in the last few years.
“The cost of production has definitely gone up,” said Rachel Steele, a veteran independent creator performer who makes MILF-centric porn. She went on to list all the ways that production costs have become, in her words, “really exorbitant.”
To produce a 30-minute film, which she said can cost about $5,000, she needs to pay talent, pay for the location, the photographer, the videographer, as well as behind-the-scenes costs like monthly STI testing. And many of these costs, especially paying an hourly rate for the location, have recently gone up. Of course, for performers who are on platforms such as OnlyFans, they have to fork over a percentage cut of their total profit.
“I secretly do the math,” Steele said. “I’m counting all the women in the room. I’m counting all the guys and the videographers and the assistants and the sound guy and I’m just estimating.”
Similarly, Cheerleader Kait, a content creator who primarily uses OnlyFans and recently won AVN’s Best New Starlet award, said that costs of production can creep up over time, especially as she continues to invest in delivering loyal subscribers high quality videos.
“I’m constantly upgrading my own equipment. I have these crazy studio lights that are in professional studios just in my home for OnlyFans,” she said. “I think that when you go that extra mile, when you upgrade your stuff, you make better quality work.”
Steele charges a flat rate for access to her site, which includes a library of thousands of films made over 20 years in the business. She said she hasn’t considered raising her subscription rate, but that she has implemented a “bit of an increase” on custom videos lately.
Similarly, Kait says that she keeps her subscription at $10 per month, but has raised prices on customs. Changing the monthly rate that a person pays to your page can have adverse consequences, Kait said. Alerting a price change informs all subscribers, forcing them to opt in to following you again. At a time when everyone is squeamish about prices, that can lead to subscriber falloff.
“Every single person who has ever subscribed to you has to confirm, ‘Yes, I’m okay with this new price and that’s a huge deal,” she said. “I would rather stay under the radar.”
The mental math of creating porn online is sometimes lost to subscribers. Demora Avarice, an independent creator whose videos focus on big breasts and breast expansion, said she’s considered raising prices a few times, especially because she doesn’t like spamming her subscribers with messages to buy pay-per-piece content.
“The last year has been more difficult as delaying the decision has almost wiped out the savings cushion I had built up,” she said. She has seen many people lose subscribers after a price change, as well. She said, “An alienated fan base can be very unforgiving.”
Overall, while people may think of content creators just as people who film adult content for a living, each one said that they think of themselves primarily as business people and, just like small businesses around the nation, are dealing with rising costs and a downturning economy, especially when they are in a business that is not considered a necessity.
“We feel the pressure too,” Avarice said. “The entire industry is predicated on disposable income.”
