‘State of the Creator’ Shows Shift to Kink for Adult Creators

CYBERSPACE—Adult creators are adapting quickly to a changing market, with significant growth in creators working in the kink and fetish sector and a relative drop in camming, according to a new report from SWR Data. The adult market research firm surveyed over 425 adult creators during July and August and released the first tranche of data from its 2024 State of the Creator report today. The State of the Creator report compiled a demographic portrait of the creator community (including age, gender, sexuality and location) and the sectors and platforms used by those creators. More than 80 percent of those surveyed worked in the U.S., Canada or the U.K. Insights and analysis revealed: The number of creators working in kink and fetish has grown 70 percent since 2022, with platforms including Clips4Sale, iWantClips, LoyalFans and NiteFlirt showing the highest percentage of kink and fetish creators. The number of creators who cam appears to be falling—down about 15 percent since 2022. Today, 88 percent of cam performers also monetize on fan sites, while just 55 percent of creators are camming. Most major social platforms are seeing drops in creators—only YouTube, Telegram and Discord show growth, according to SWR. Half of creators ranked X as the social media platform most important to their business. “Four years into the creator revolution, we’re seeing the community grow and diversify,” said MelRose Michaels, co-founder of SWR Data. “Creators have more options than ever, and are making decisions based on what is most valuable for their time. When we first ran this study two years ago, many creators were relatively new to the business and the consumer market wasn’t as saturated. Going into 2025, I expect we’ll see creators making even more strategic and informed decisions about where to work and what to create.” The second part of the survey, which includes trends in income, technology and tools, and rankings of the top platforms used by adult creators, will be released in the coming weeks. To receive a copy of additional reports, sign up for the SWR mailing list at the website. To learn more about SWR Data, contact [email protected].