Florida couple thrives in the business of OnlyFans: A look at their online content creation process
MIAMI — Somewhere in Florida, there's a secluded, 10-acre property complete with a barn, a warehouse and even pecan trees. It looks a lot like a farm.
And it is, in a way. Some might consider it a "content farm."
The couple that lives in the home on the property, along with their team of employees who work on-site, create multiple videos, posts and messages a day across various social media platforms for their millions of fans — some of their posts are more "revealing" than others.
"I mean, we focused really hard the last several months on almost exclusively 'safe for work' stuff," said content creator Brian Adam. "Yeah, we're turning out content left and right."
Brian and his longtime girlfriend Bryce Adams have never given a TV interview until now, though neither is exactly camera shy.
The duo is behind one of the most lucrative and successful accounts on OnlyFans, the site where creators share content with paid subscribers — some of it too risqué for broadcast television.
Bryce is the star of the show. And though she is comfortable showing her body, she still doesn't share her entire face. She wears a lace mask or sunglasses when on camera.
"We started this three years ago. We had no following, no nothing, no experience. And I wasn't sure how far I wanted to go with it. So I just kind of went from here down," she gestures below her neck, "for privacy reasons."
She adds, "At this point, I'm very comfortable. It's more of like, intrigue. A fun thing to separate me from somebody else."
CBS News Miami got a firsthand look at their operation. For their security, we are not revealing exactly where in Florida their "farm" is located.
In fact, Bryce Adams isn't her legal name, but it's the persona she's created online to the tune of $20 million and counting, according to their figures.
"Every dollar we spent, we're getting eight back," Brian explained while discussing their ability to grow their ad revenues. "We've never seen those types of numbers. We just leaned into that full blast. And we ended up becoming one of the top earners, the most liked [OnlyFans] page," Brian explained. "So we did, I think, our first $2 million in sales before we even had 5,000 social media followers."
The high school sweethearts launched a successful online business selling sports equipment before jumping into OnlyFans. Now, Bryce — who's in her early 30s — is building up her presence on what she calls "forward facing" social platforms, like YouTube and Instagram. She's even considering shedding the mask later this month. But for her, it's not as simple as just taking out a phone and pressing record.
"There's a lot more that goes into it," she told CBS News Miami's Lauren Pastrana. "We have a whole content strategy meeting that we have pretty much daily at this point. And we map out our content across all of our platforms, all of our OnlyFans pages, YouTube, Instagram, Tik Tok, like everything. And each one does have different curations. And we're testing different styles. So it's constantly this evolving thing that we're trying to curate our content and portray, I guess, what's going on in our life, the most authentic way possible."
"The things we do in our content is 100% true. So for us, it's a documentation of our actual lives. End to end, we joke that we're the only real vloggers (video bloggers) out there, because most bloggers kind of stop at like a bedroom door," Brian said. "But then, a lot of the OnlyFans creators, they only start at the bedroom door. And it's like, people are trying to get to know you and connect on every level possible of connecting on. So for us, it's about just the truth of OnlyFans. For us, it's a real business."
The business includes a team of about 20 people. They file into the place they've jokingly dubbed "Big Farma" at around 8 a.m. Some focus on ads and marketing, others chat with subscribers, and a few shoot and edit content.
They break for lunch and some often wrap up with a workout at their on-site gym.
Their content ranges from fully clothed fun to more salacious strip-downs. Bryce even documented a recent fibroid removal surgery with her community of fans.
"We've documented a lot of our personal habits like how we train and just share that. I've had fans write me, like 'Hey, you know, I've lost 100 pounds since joining your page. Here's my before and after. Thank you so much.' And I was like, I didn't even think I could [have that kind of impact]. I don't sell workout programs. I'm not on my page trying to motivate anybody. It's just cool to have that connection with somebody," Bryce said.
When asked if she considers herself a content creator, influencer or business person, Bryce said, "For sure: business owner and entrepreneur. That's definitely going to be like the baseline."
Critics of OnlyFans say it's just pornography sold online. CBS News Miami asked Bryce and Brian if they consider themselves part of the porn industry.
Bryce responded: "I guess a little bit, but it's much more than that... I offer adult content. But, that is not like the baseline of like everything for me. We've talked about this as being the most realistic end-to-end vlog."
She says she highlights their charity work and her cat rescues, calling it a "very unfiltered life".
"So for me, OnlyFans is a great platform for us to share everything," Bryce added. "And it's a safe place. It's a safe place for fans to come, safe place for content creators to come and be whoever they want to be. For me, that's just me just being completely myself."
"Our core values on our pages are honesty, no judgment, and just being real", Bryan said. "We try to create a safe space where people can feel like it's okay to be themselves."
When the pandemic hit, OnlyFans became a refuge for adult film performers as productions shut down. Now, some have transitioned fully to OnlyFans and never looked back, because they're in control of the content and the cash flow.
Olivia Ormos knows such creators. As the founder of mavn, a platform that connects brands with influencers, Ormos is impressed with how Bryce found success on OnlyFans first, before branching out to other social media platforms.
"They can control that whether they do the sexy stuff or they just do exclusive content for their fans where things aren't posted other places. I have plenty of people that I see on the OnlyFans platform that are making a fortune fully clothed," Ormos explained.
New data from the research firm Morning Consult shows that 57% of those born between 1997 and 2012 would be an influencer if given the opportunity.
"The creator economy has over $2 billion in revenue a year that creators are making every single day. So no, I don't think there's any stopping. I think it's just going to get bigger and bigger," Ormos said. "To show that there's an independence out there for people to do what they want to do, and exactly how they want to do it and making a phenomenal living doing it, I think it's amazing."
Bryce's success is far from typical. According to personal finance website SpendMeNot, the average OnlyFans creator makes about $150 per month.
The parent company of OnlyFans, Fenix International Limited, filed its annual report and financial statements in the U.K. last year, revealing the gross site volume for 2022 was $5.6 billion. The site takes a 20% cut of each subscription. There are more than 3.1 million creators on the site and more than 238 million fans. The number of creators jumped 47% year over year.
One recent survey by Madhouse Labs dubbed Miami the "OnlyFans Capital of the U.S.", so standing out in the crowd isn't easy.
"You have to be strategic," said Nancy Richmond, a social media marketing professor at Florida International University. "If you really want to be an influencer, you have to come up with a plan. You have to really think about what kind of market you want to reach. You have to think about what is your niche?"
Universities like FIU are now offering degree programs in social media-related fields to cater to the ever-growing industry.
"The key is being authentic and showing your personality," Richmond said. "People want to follow real people, they don't want to follow companies."
For Bryce and Co., that's been the foundation of their success and they don't see that changing anytime soon.
"We're focused on our goals and our values. We're building out our content. We're building up our community and our brand and our audience," Bryce said. "You can be yourself. Enjoy yourself. As long as everybody is legal, healthy and happy, then have at it."
