More and more Gen Z users are jumping on the content creation bandwagon in an effort to make a living outside of a regular 9 to 5 gig. Study from 2022 by Adobe, about 45% of Gen Z creators surveyed said they want to monetize their content.

Given the recent drama surrounding major social media apps, with Meta shutting down its monthly Reels Play bonus program and the potential TikTok ban, many creators are concerned. Sixty percent of Gen Z creators use TikTok to monetize content, the study found.

fanfix, a Patreon competitor targeting Gen Z creators and only allowing clean content can provide an additional revenue stream for creators. The subscription content monetization platform allows influencers to monetize their followers directly.

Fanfix has attracted more than 10 million users, including 3,000 creators, the company claims. The median annual income for active makers is $70,000, the data shows.

As of this month, Fanfix says it has paid $11 million to creators so far, with projections of $50 million by the end of the year. It also claims $35 million in revenue and believes it will be profitable in the first quarter of 2024, co-founder Harry Gestetner told australiabusinessblog.com.

The numbers are remarkable for a two-year-old startup, especially when the current market makes it harder for creator-focused startups to succeed.

Fanfix is ​​a web application where creators can create a membership, set up a paywall, and then post content behind the paywall. Creators can set their own subscription price, with a minimum cost of $5 per month and a maximum of $50.

Influencers can also earn even more with features like “Tip-to-DM”, a pay-to-message feature that allows fans to pay between $3 and $500 to chat privately with their favorite creators.

Fanfix also recently launched a one-time purchase feature, as well as a new message distribution feature, which allows creators to reach all of their subscribers at once.

Other features in the works include one-on-one conversations, personalized videos and live streaming.

In addition, Fanfix has an analytics dashboard, which allows users to track their revenue, subscriber count, and other performance metrics. This can be a useful tool if creators want to share metrics with brands and hopefully gain opportunities.

The platform generates revenue by taking a 20% commission. This is a bit high compared to some competitors, such as Fanhouse who only takes 10%. Patreon requires creators to sign up for one of their plans, charging a monthly fee ranging from 5% to 12%.

While Fanfix has no plans to cut the commission, the company pointed out that it has no hidden costs and offers a more “premium service” than most competitors, Nashuatec said.

“If you look at other platforms, a lot of them charge the makers for payment processing. So there are a lot of hidden costs and we are very transparent about how we make money,” added co-founder Simon Pompan.

“Fanfix is ​​one in this space that is emerging as the leader in the clean Gen Z-first monetization space because our platform has been, quite simply, where creators make the most money,” said Nashuatec. “Creators are generally very happy with the commission because they know they’re making more money on our platform than elsewhere.”

Simon Pompan (left) and Harry Gestetner (right)

Gestetner and Pompan have been friends since high school and launched Fanfix in August 2021 when they entered college. Shortly after Fanfix launched, Nashuatec and Pompan Vine brought star Cameron Dallas to the team.

The idea of ​​Fanfix came about when Nashuatec’s cousin blew up TikTok and got tens of millions of views, but couldn’t monetize it. After doing some research, Nashuatec found that many creators were struggling to make money.

In general, the creator economy can be a tricky area to tackle, especially for full-time, smaller creators trying to make ends meet. Smaller makers rarely make branded deals, let alone consistent deals that generate a stable revenue stream.

“Brand deals were not enough for the vast majority of creators, and there had to be a way for creators to monetize their loyal fans directly without relying on brands, agents, studios or record labels. There was a gap in the market for a clean, family-friendly membership platform for Gen Z fans,” he said.

Fanfix’s target audience is 13 to 24 years old, so the platform has strict requirements content guidelines and prohibits both nudity and content that promotes illegal activity.

The platform ensures that users and creators under the age of 18 are protected with additional safety features such as reporting features and human moderators who monitor private messages 24/7 and review creator accounts twice a day.

Regardless of a creator’s age, they can use the “safe mode” feature, which allows them to enable human-rated posts.

In general, the entire platform is moderated by humans.

Fanfix only accepts creators with a follower count of 10,000 or more. The creator must match Fanfix’s “brand image” and be able to convert.

We spoke with Savannah Rae Demersa 22-year-old content creator who started using Fanfix in Spring 2022. Demers said she has made nearly $100,000 on the platform to date.

“My subscription rate is currently $8, making me about $6.40 per subscriber per month,” Demers told us. “With about 2,100 subscribers, that’s about $13,500 a month from subscribers alone. That doesn’t even include extra tips and revenue from messaging.

Fanfix is ​​home to other successful creators, including Madi Monroe, Brooke Monk, and Anna Shumate. According to the company, there are an average of about 200 Fanfix subscribers per creator on the platform.

“I was immediately intrigued by the overall concept of this platform – having a place to document content behind the scenes and not just have branded deals to rely on sounded pretty good to me! Also having a place to actually chat and connect with my community of followers is super special to me and that’s exactly what Fanfix gave me with the messaging side of the platform,” added Demers.

Image Credits: @savannahraedemers (Opens in a new window)

Gestetner and Pompan were only 21 and 23 respectively when they sold Fanfix to Super ordinary in June 2022 for eight figures. SuperOrdinary partners with over 140 brands, such as Farmacy, OLAPLEX, The Honest Company and more.

SuperOrdinary has its own ecommerce platform called GalaGalawhich offers a selection of brands curated by influencers.

Eventually, the makers of Fanfix will be able to partner with SuperOrdinary to sell products in their own online stores.

“As part of Fanfix, these creators get access to the entire SuperOrdinary ecosystem. Whether it’s giving access to the brands or whatever it is, access to a system that really no other platform can provide,” said Nashuatec.

In November 2022, the company launched SuperLink, a monetization-focused link-in-bio platform that showcases a creator’s Fanfix page. Creators get 46% of ad revenue.