The Creators Cannes Still Doesn’t Know How to Talk About

The marketing world has finally discovered creators. At Cannes Lions, the creator economy is no longer treated as a side conversation; it now has dedicated programming, creator-focused talks, networking spaces, and award categories built around creator-led marketing. Cannes Lions describes LIONS Creators as “the business of influence,” with dedicated spaces for creators to meet brands and decision-makers.

But when the advertising industry says “creators,” it usually means TikTok creators, YouTubers, podcasters, athletes, lifestyle influencers, beauty creators, and brand-safe personalities. It does not usually mean spicy content creators, even though they are some of the most entrepreneurial, technically sophisticated, audience-driven creators in the world. That omission is not accidental. It is a brand-safety blind spot.

OnlyFans alone shows the size of the category. In 2024, the platform processed about $7.2 billion in fan spending, reported $1.4 billion in revenue, had roughly 4.6 million creator accounts, and 377.5 million fan accounts. The company’s standard model pays creators 80% and keeps 20%, making it one of the clearest examples of direct creator monetization at massive scale.

Fanvue is also becoming a serious signal that this market is evolving beyond simple subscription pages. The company raised a $22 million Series A and reported crossing a $100 million annualized revenue run rate, while positioning itself around AI-powered creator monetization tools. Dealroom also reported Fanvue had around 17 million monthly users.

Fansly is less transparent because it is privately held and does not publish the same level of financial disclosure, but available industry analysis consistently positions it as a major alternative platform for adult creators. Its differentiation has centered around creator tools such as tiered subscriptions, discovery features, and multiple monetization paths. That matters because creators are not simply looking for a place to upload content; they are looking for infrastructure that helps them run businesses.

That is the part Cannes still misses. Spicy creators are not just “content.” They are solo media companies. They understand audience segmentation, retention, upsells, conversion, direct messaging, platform risk, content calendars, brand identity, paid media, organic reach, customer psychology, and community management. In many ways, they are doing the creator economy more honestly than the polished influencers invited onto brand panels.

The problem is that the marketing world wants creator economics without creator reality. It wants authenticity, parasocial trust, conversion, direct fan relationships, and niche communities. But it still flinches when the creators who perfected those mechanics are connected to adult-adjacent business models. So the industry studies the creator economy while quietly excluding the creators who helped prove how powerful direct monetization can be.

Urban Decay is a useful example of how brands can get this wrong. In 2025, Urban Decay announced a campaign with Ariel “Ari” Kytsya, described in the brand’s release as an adult content and TikTok creator focused on self-expression and agency. The campaign sparked criticism from campaigners, including concerns that beauty brands working with adult-content creators could send complicated signals to younger audiences.

The mistake was not working with a spicy creator. The mistake was treating the audience question too narrowly. A beauty brand may think its audience is simply women, but a creator with adult-platform visibility carries multiple audiences at once: fans, beauty consumers, critics, parents, platforms, journalists, advocacy groups, and culture-war commentators. If a brand is going to enter that space, it needs a real strategy, not just a provocation wrapped in empowerment language.

That is exactly why spicy creators need better infrastructure. They need platforms, media channels, verification, editorial coverage, brand-safe storytelling, business education, partnership frameworks, reputation tools, and owned-media systems that do not depend on the approval of Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, or Cannes. They need infrastructure that recognizes them as business owners first.

This is where the conversation needs to evolve beyond creators and into infrastructure. The creator economy doesn't simply need another conference panel about authenticity, influence, or community. It needs the tools, media, and business systems that allow an entire class of entrepreneurs to build sustainable companies. If spicy content creators are going to become a legitimate part of the broader creator economy, they need more than platforms to publish content. They need press, discoverability, professional networking, brand partnerships, trusted identities, education, community, and marketing tools designed specifically for the realities of their businesses.

That's the vision behind Only Fans Insider Magazine and Sxgram. While one provides editorial credibility and guaranteed media coverage through user-generated content digital publishing, the other is being built as the social and business infrastructure that many creators have never truly had. Together, they represent a shift away from rented attention and toward owned media, professional storytelling, and long-term business development. The goal isn't simply to give creators another place to post—it is to create an ecosystem where creators, agencies, technology companies, advertisers, educators, and brands can finally participate in the same conversation.

For brands, that conversation represents an opportunity that has largely gone unexplored. The adult creator economy has often been viewed through the narrow lens of content moderation rather than business innovation. Yet these creators are experts in community building, direct-to-consumer marketing, subscription economics, customer retention, and audience engagement. As the marketing industry becomes more comfortable with creator-led campaigns, it will eventually recognize that some of the most sophisticated marketers have been operating outside the traditional advertising ecosystem all along.

Perhaps that's the next evolution the creator economy needs. Not another discussion about whether spicy creators belong, but the infrastructure that allows them to participate professionally alongside everyone else. The future won't be defined by excluding entrepreneurs because they're difficult to categorize. It will be defined by building systems that allow lawful businesses, creators, and brands to collaborate responsibly, transparently, and at scale. When that happens, the conversation won't be about a separate creator economy for spicy creators—it will simply be the creator economy, finally recognizing all of the entrepreneurs who helped build it.