‘State of the Creator’ Shows Shift to Kink, Fetish Among Adult Creators

The adult market research firm, which surveyed a respondent base of over 425 adult creators during July and August, released the first set of data from its “2024 State of the Creator” report Wednesday.

SWR said the report “compiled a demographic portrait of the creator community (including age, gender, sexuality and location), with a deep dive into the sectors and platforms used by those creators.” Over 80% of those surveyed worked in the US, Canada or the UK, SWR noted.

According to the report, the number of adult creators working in kink and fetish has grown 70% since 2022, with the platforms 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% since 2022,” SWR noted in statement summarizing some of the report’s conclusions. “Today, 88% of cam performers also monetize on fan sites, while just 55% of creators cam.”

SWR added that “most major social platforms are seeing drops in creators,” specifying that only YouTube, Telegram, Discord have shown growth. SWR reported “just half of creators ranked Twitter/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.”

SWR Data was launched by Mike Stabile (Polari Media) and MelRose Michaels (SexWorkCEO). SWR conducts “both public and private market research for platforms and organizations, using a slate of hundreds of working creators and fans to help them better understand and adapt to the needs of the rapidly evolving adult market,” the firm said.

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, according to SWR. Previous reports from SWR have included an analysis of AI use by adult creators and a survey probing creators’ concerns about political attacks on the adult industry.

To receive a copy of additional reports, join the SWR Mailing List. To learn more about working with SWR Data to better understand the adult creator market, contact info@SWRData.com.