In 2021, webcam model Elle Stanger filmed a pole dancing video for a long-distance client. The accompanying song? Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage” remix, which features Beyoncé rapping lyrics that perfectly fit the bill: “She might start an OnlyFans.”
“As soon as I heard that, I just knew: ‘Oh God, this is the start of something even bigger,’” says Stanger, a sexuality educator and full-time stripper with 17 years of experience. “If Beyoncé is name-dropping OnlyFans…”
Stanger – who makes content on sites like Camsoda and NiteFlirt – was accurate in her prediction: OnlyFans was just beginning its ascent. The pay-per-view platform has more than doubled in size since then, growing from 187.9 million registered users in 2021 to 377.5 million by 2025.
Now, that growth has begun to reflect in television.
In 2026 alone, audiences watched Sydney Sweeney in “Euphoria” and Elle Fanning in “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” play young women who turn to OnlyFans to make some cash, while murder thriller “Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed” kicks off with a shirtless Brandon Flynn sweet-talking Tatiana Maslany via webcam.
