OnlyFans, YouTube, and Twitch, JAV actresses no longer restricted to filming JAV to earn money

As a JAV actress, the usual way to make money is to film a JAV, work fan events, photo shoots, and media appearances (talk shows, radio).

Times have changed with the introduction of new social media platforms, global access to the internet, and access to a global audience. For  decades JAV actresses, like most of the porn industry around the world, had a stigmatized as a industry that's dirty, filthy, dangerous, and naughty. Although it has such a stigmatization the industry is BOOMING in terms of being a financial well off as globally it makes billions per year (97 billion in 2015 according to this NBC article). Even with torrents/other illegal downloads that stops the industry from being even more financially well off, fans love showing their support for this industry in terms of buying DVDs and subscribing to porn studios websites to get access to the porn they love to watch. Cam sites became very popular but it was something most associated with amateurs, basically girls with a webcam, who showed off and got "virtual coins" in exchange which is converted into real money to be sent to them. Some of these "amateurs" did make enough off these cam sites to live very well off but for a majority it was a easier way to make a living safely while pursuing schooling/other jobs without becoming a prostitute, escort, or stripper that came with some inherent dangers. Even some professional porn actresses did camming as a way to make extra money.

In recent years the industry has changed as professional porn actresses and amateurs are taking more to becoming their own "company" by promoting themselves through social media platforms, like OnlyFans where they make a majority of the money and not the studio. Platforms like OnlyFans has become synonymous for platforms that gives users the freedom to post whatever they want and earn money from subscriptions and tips, this includes nudity, even if OnlyFans doesn't say they're in the business of doing that. For example, OnlyFans lets users keep 80% of subscriptions/tips while OnlyFans takes 20% for overhead costs. So assume a person charges $10 per month and they have 500 subscribers, that's $5000 gross, of which they earn $4000 and OnlyFans gets $1000. Many can afford $10 a month so why not? It supports your favorite actress directly and you get exclusive content not posted elsewhere. Let's take it a little more extreme, still $10 per month but they have 5000 subscribers, that's $50,000 per month gross, $40,000 for them and $10,000 to OnlyFans. That's HUGE and a very plausible situation. 

Even if you've never heard of OnlyFans before you've likely heard about actress Bella Thorne making $2 million in less than one week after joining OnlyFans and ruining the platform for many other users (a whole other topic).

Back to JAV. Due to OnlyFans being a American based company, the company was initially not accessible to those in the JAV industry and there was no similar company to it in Japan that had a global reach. Japan being Japan, focuses more on staying within the country as much as possible as they have to deal with just Japan law and no other countries laws. Plus, the JAV industry is made up of many agencies as well which the actresses sign up to work with and those agencies basically can say what they can and can't do in terms of how they make money. There are no independent actresses that I know of as the agencies help to regulate the industry and have the connections you need to make it in the industry. If actresses make money then the agency wants to make sure they get a cut of it too. In the past couple years though OnlyFans has now become accessible to Japan, with the world famous JAV actress Hitomi Tanaka being the first to use it followed by Anri Okita (Note, by this time Anri has retired from the JAV industry). This was a new way for them to make money and fans were more than willing to subscribe to support them and to get exclusive content (I think some were hoping to see a uncensored post of their vagina but Japan law still applies when it comes to still active actresses!). Now more JAV actresses/former actresses are joining OnlyFans, including Nina Nishimura and Ruka Nishigaki for example. I can see even more joining in the future when the word spreads about how much they make per month.

Former actresses can especially capitalize on this as they had fans during their career in the industry and might not necessarily have a agency anymore to restrict what they can do, like Yuu Sakura (aka Mai Uchiyama) who posts uncensored sex with her husband on her OnlyFans.  She also has a popular Instagram well worth checking out.

OnlyFans is just one new way for actresses to make money and again OnlyFans is basically associated with nudity. Let's go with the next plaform, Twitch. If you've never heard of Twitch it's a platform for anyone to use and stream themselves, normally playing a video game or chatting. Streamers make money on Twitch via subscriptions, with the streamer and Twitch taking 50% (top ranking streamers supposedly make up to 70%). So assume a streamer charges a subscription of $4.99 per month and has 1000 subscribers, that's $2495 per month for the streamer and Twitch. Since it's even cheaper than OnlyFans, lets double that amount of subscribers to 2000, that's $4990 per month that goes to the streamer and Twitch. Subscriptions lets a viewer watch with limited ads, custom emotes that come with their level of subscription, a little sign next to their name during the streams that shows they're a subscriber, and lets them talk during streams that might be restricted to only those who follow the streamer. Although I can see less people subscribing to Twitch than OnlyFans, since there is no nudity and you can still watch the streamer for free, that's still income actresses can generate just from playing games.

You'll see many famous JAV actresses now playing games on Twitch. One of the most popular being retired JAV actress Kaho Shibuya. What's interesting to me is how in recent years JAV actresses are so talkative about their love of video games and anime when for a majority of their career they never mention it. You'd think it would give fans something to talk to them more about if they revealed their nerdier side, as many fans are also gamers or lovers of anime. Maybe it had to do with something about keeping up their "image" and their agency didn't want them to reveal that side of them. I also have a hypothesis that being around such fans for so long influenced them into getting into these hobbies. Still, something that has always made me wonder and probably still will in the future as I see more and more actresses talk about their hobbies that doesn't involve the usual eating out at a fancy place, expensive luxury items, or their pets.

Fans like seeing and interacting with JAV actresses on Twitch they wouldn't normally be able to do, even in Japan. After all, you don't see them in game tournaments or playing video games at their fan events (maybe in the future?). Since fans are directly talking to the actresses and they respond back immediately (to as much as they can) there's a direct connection felt there which could even lead them to subscribe, thus earning the actress money. So it's a win win for both. This is especially true of fans who can't travel to Japan to meet these actresses in person at events.Twitch might be the only way a fan can interact with the actress and wouldn't mind supporting them by giving some money that might have took them less than a hour or even a whole couple days worth of work to interact with them for that month they're subscribed.

The actress doesn't even have to wear revealing clothing, just regular home or street clothes, and play their favorite video game. There are many Twitch streamers who some consider e-thots (basically internet sluts) for dressing in tight clothes or reveal lots of cleavage to gain attention on Twitch but you don't need to do that with JAV actresses, just watch their JAV and you get all the tight clothing and nudity you want from them. 

Hitomi Tanaka is also on Twitch and is a big fan of the very popular game Fortnite which she plays often but she actually doesn't have a subscription on her account.

The last but certainly not the last platform we see JAV actresses making money from is YouTube. People have been making money on YouTube for decades but only recently have JAV actresses also started to use YouTube to share their interests/hobbies and to make money from it as well. The money a YouTuber makes is based on ads that play before, during, or after your video. According to this Intuit article, in 2020 a YouTuber makes about $5 per 1000 views. So let's say a YouTuber has 20,000 views per month, which is $100 a month. That's very small compared to what was discussed earlier about what someone can make on OnlyFans or Twitch. That's just one scenario though. Let's say one of their videos goes viral and gets 1 million views along with that normal 20,000 views a month, that's $5,100 in a month which is more comparable to the other platforms. YouTube also has a much bigger user base than either of the two combined for daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly viewers so there's a good chance someone will stumble onto their accounts and subscribe. Subscribing is free on YouTube and helps to get views needed to make ad money.

What's nice about YouTube is it is basically a giant black hole of continuous viewing that you won't be able to stop from viewing the next video suggested. So if a JAV actress, like YouTuber Natsuko Mishima, keep uploading more videos, gets more subscribers, and those subscribers keep watching nearly every video she's uploaded, then it can become a good part time job or maybe even a full time job once they retire from JAV.

I'm sure there are many other platforms that are out there for JAV actresses to join and to make money from and even more in the future but those are the top 3 most popular recognized on a global scale.

The key to doing any of this on any platform is to constantly upload and to keep the fans happy. If they can do that then the fans will keep subscribing and bringing in the money for them, even if they never show a nipple again (though with OnlyFans that's what fans want, nipples!!).