<p><img src="https://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5fd243697b7e050019107284-2400/Image from iOS-2.jpg" border="0" alt="Jasmine Rice" data-mce-source="Jasmine Rice" data-mce-caption="Jasmine Rice, a cofounder of FanHouse and the face of the platform, has used it to translate her Twitter following into thousands in monthly revenue."></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>A quick scroll through the Facebook-like feed of <a href="https://fanhouse.app/home">FanHouse</a>, a subscription-based platform that launched in October, hints at the site's dizzying breadth of normcore content. "in so much pain but i'm still cute," reads a post from creator and platform-cofounder <a href="https://fanhouse.app/home">Jasmine Rice</a>. Further down, a shot-from-the-hip selfie shows off a new pink cardigan, with a caption thanking the anonymous fan who purchased it for her from her Amazon wishlist.</p><p>To see any of this, though, you would first have to pay $10.</p><p>FanHouse, which allows influencers to generate revenue by placing media behind a paywall and encouraging fans to pay a monthly fee, has grown rapidly in its first two months. The platform owes its success, at least in part, to one key premise. </p><p>On other subscription-based platforms, such as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/molly-bazs-patreon-recipe-club-thousands-of-subscribers-2020-12">Patreon</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/this-substack-cofounder-explains-what-makes-a-compelling-newsletter-2020-8">Substack</a>, or <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/onlyfans-tips-pay-per-view-media-extras-subscriptions-upsell-2020-10">OnlyFans</a>, creators incentivize fans to subscribe by placing creative content, like podcasts, writing, or risque photos, behind a paywall. On FanHouse, however, influencers have no such burden of production: their personalities are the product, and further access is the only value proposition. </p><p>This low barrier to entry for creators is one of the platform's key appeals, as digital influencers already sharing their material for free on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook can simply share itor something just like iton FanHouse, and then watch it turn a profit. As a result, FanHouse presents a special appeal to influencers whose content is based on intangible but valuable qualities; according to documents reviewed by Business Insider, the platform has attracted more than 150 creators and boasts 2,500 monthly active users.</p><p><img src="https://static6.businessinsider.com/image/5fd24ae67b7e0500191072b9-2400/khoi-le.jpg" border="0" alt="Khoi Le" data-mce-source="Khoi Le"></p><p>Cofounder <a href="https://twitter.com/jasminericegirl">Jasmine Rice</a>, who created FanHouse alongside Jerry Meng and Khoi Le, says the platform's light lift democratizes influence; you no longer have to make something special to justify receiving financial support from your fans. </p><p>"I'm a funny girl on the internet who doesn't have any specific kind of content. I just have my life and my personality," said Rice. "And if you want to support me for that' That's the appeal of FanHouse: You get to monetize being yourself."</p><p>In its first two months, the platform has paid out more than $70,000 to its 150 creators, according to documents reviewed by Business Insider. FanHouse charges a 10% revenue share on users' profits, a slightly lower percentage than competitors like Patreon and OnlyFans, which charge between 10% and 20%.</p><p>Rice, who recently graduated from the Wharton School of Business, has used FanHouse to translate her <a href="https://twitter.com/jasminericegirl">82,000 Twitter followers</a> into more than $6,000 on the platform since October. She is also in the top 1% of creators on OnlyFans, which nets her between $1,000 and $40,000 a month. By day, she works in finance.</p><p><img src="https://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5fd24b3b30f2740018b0f116-1667/jerry-headshot.jpg" border="0" alt="Jerry Meng" data-mce-source="Jerry Meng"></p><p>Similar to other subscription-based platforms, FanHouse works best for digital personalities like Rice who have already cultivated a substantial following. Just as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/molly-bazs-patreon-recipe-club-thousands-of-subscribers-2020-12">YouTube stars use the video platform to grow their audience</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-jessica-mccabe-how-to-adhd-uses-patreon-paywall2020-9">then funnel their followers to Patreon to squeeze them for subscription revenue</a>, influencers who have developed a fan base on another platform can funnel their acolytes to FanHouse, then charge a monthly fee. </p><p>The difference, though, is that subscribers on platforms like Patreon, OnlyFans, and Substack expect an exclusive product in return for their money; on FanHouse, subscribers simply get more of what they were already getting for free.</p><h2>FanHouse mirrors the OnlyFans model, except it doesn't host sex workers. For some creators, that's part of the appeal.</h2><p>In its name and business model, FanHouse resembles OnlyFans, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/onlyfans-tips-pay-per-view-media-extras-subscriptions-upsell-2020-10">a subscription-based platform that has grown popular among sex workers</a>, because the site has no content restrictions and works with payment processors that accept sex-work-based transactions.</p><p>However, unlike OnlyFans, FanHouse uses Stripe to process payments, which means that it is unable to host sex workers. As a result, FanHouse is able to appeal to influencers who envy the payouts creators are receiving on OnlyFans, but who hesitated to join the platform themselves, for fear of being associated with sex work.</p><p>Sam Hashimoto, one of FanHouse's first creators, was initially wary of the association between the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-onlyfans-sex-work-entrepreneurs-social-media-strategies-monetize-subscriptions">subscription-based influencer site and OnlyFans.</a> Rice assured Hashimoto that FanHouse did not work with sex workers, saying the platform had a strict "no nude, no porn" policy.</p><p>In fact, says Rice, content on FanHouse does not have to be sexual, time-intensive, or meticulously crafted at all. Rice has an <a href="https://onlyfans.com/jasminericegirl">OnlyFans</a> and a <a href="https://fanhouse.app/jasminericegirl">FanHouse</a>, though little of her content on either platform is sexual in nature. Others on FanHouse use it to share selfies, jokes, and guitar covers. Compared to OnlyFans or even Twitter, the material is decidedly tame.</p><p><a href="https://twitter.com/queenjoheen">Joheen</a>, a Twitter comedian and an early invitee to FanHouse, shared Hashimoto's appreciation for the PG-13 atmosphere on the site. The Montreal-based comedian says her family follows her on social media, so the idea of sharing nude content or using a platform associated with adult content was a non-starter.</p><p>"It's not to say that I don't respect sex workers, because I do. It's just not for me, and I didn't want that kind of image," said Joheen. </p><h2><strong>Multi-hyphenate creators can funnel followers from other platforms to FanHouse, then charge for deeper access.</strong></h2><p>Early creators on the platform have already begun to see promising returns. <a href="https://fanhouse.app/hashibobo">Hashimoto</a>, who is a model, streamer, and musician based in the Philippines, <a href="https://fanhouse.app/hashibobo">began using FanHouse</a> in November and has already generated $13,635 in revenue, according to documents reviewed by Business Insider. </p><p><img src="https://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5fd2454a7b7e05001910729b-1136/IMG_1145.jpeg" border="0" alt="Sam Hashimoto" data-mce-source="Sam Hashimoto" data-mce-caption="Hashimoto uses FanHouse to monetize his fans' interest in his personal life, sharing photos, fitness advice, and announcements with subscribers for $20 a month."></p><p>Hashimoto was approached by Rice, who he knows through Twitter. She encouraged him to use FanHouse to translate his 300,000 total followers from Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook into recurring revenue.</p><p>Intrigued, Hashimoto began sharing photos, videos, and fitness advice in October, and has since racked up 157 subscribers paying $20 a month. Whether his fans know him from his streaming, fitness influencing, or modeling, they all flock to FanHouse for more Hashimoto.</p><p>"It's a place where I can just post and not care. I can take off that social media mask we all wear and just hang out. I think they've literally said that it's a place where you can shitpost and it's fine," he said, referring to the practice of posting without forethought or concern for appearance.</p><p><img src="https://static6.businessinsider.com/image/5fd249757b7e0500191072ad-1415/20201208_171003.jpg" border="0" alt="Joleen" data-mce-source="Joleen" data-mce-caption="Twitter personality Joleen turned to FanHouse in a pinch for money and out of a desire to monetize content that she had previously distributed for free."></p><p>The Twitter comedian <a href="https://twitter.com/queenjoheen">Joheen</a> has also used <a href="https://fanhouse.app/queenjoheen">FanHouse</a> to monetize her following. The college student and barista has accrued 119 subscribers paying $5 a month since November, netting her $2,215 in revenue, according to documents viewed by Business Insider.</p><p>Joheen saw the platform as a way to make money off of writing jokes, which she would normally share on Twitter and watch as other users pirated, screenshotted, and misattributed her work. On FanHouse, she uses the same content to pay her rent.</p><p>The platform does present one drawback, said Joheen. Because she is being paid, she feels a small responsibility to post, a pressure that is less acute on traditional social media. The tenor of the platform is informal, but Joheen says the obligation to share is more apparent than it is on other social media, like Twitter.</p><p>"It's not a burden or anything. It's justI do feel that I need to actually put real effort in," said Joheen.</p><p>Still, golden handcuffs notwithstanding, Joheen, Hashimoto, and Rice have all become evangelists for the platform. FanHouse represents the natural next step in a digital economy shifting from an ad-supported model to a subscription-supported one, which has led creators whose offerings were too abstract for other platforms to embrace the new site.</p><p>After all, if someone's willing to pay for content you're already making for free, why not let them'</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fanhouse-influencers-turning-personalities-profits-paywall-2020-12#comments">Join the conversation about this story »</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/candy-corn-ingredients-made-of-gelatin-lac-resin-halloween-sugar-syrup-2017-10">What candy corn is actually made of</a></p>
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