Creators and the agencies that work with them increasingly buy traffic on adult sites to grow a subscriber base on OnlyFans or a paid Telegram channel. It can work. It can also burn a budget in a weekend, because adult traffic is cheap per impression and very uneven in quality, and a cheap click that never pays is the most expensive kind.
This guide does not promise results, and it gives no conversion benchmarks: published ones are rarely comparable, and yours will depend on the creator, the offer and the landing page. What it gives is a method: which traffic to test first, how to set up one link per source, and how to judge every source on the only number that matters, the cost per payer. We run Lana Network, an adult ad network, so we have a stake here; our section is short and comes last.
Start from what a payer is worth
Before buying any traffic, know what one paying fan is worth to you over the period you are willing to wait. On OnlyFans, the platform's terms of service state that its fee is 20% of each fan payment, so the creator side receives the rest of what the fan pays, before any agency fee.
Write down a simple ceiling:
- what a payer brings, net of the platform fee and any agency share, over the first 30 or 60 days;
- the part of that you are willing to spend to acquire one payer.
That second number is your maximum cost per payer. Every source and every bid is judged against it.
What traffic to test first
No format or country converts for every creator, so treat this as an order of tests, not a ranking.
- Match the visitor to the offer. If the creator's content, language and prices suit United States visitors on phones, start there; a broad worldwide mix makes the first test hard to read.
- Start with mobile. A visitor on a phone with Telegram installed can join a channel in one tap, without switching devices.
- Use a format that leaves room for a landing page. A full-page format such as a popunder shows your page in a new tab; a small banner needs a creative that earns the tap.
- Exclude what you cannot judge. Visits from data centers and known VPN networks rarely belong to real fans. Make sure your source filters them.
Each source can only be judged on its own, so test one change at a time.
One link per source
You cannot measure cost per payer if all sources land on the same link. Give each source, and ideally each placement, its own entry point:
- Telegram: channel admins can create additional invite links and see who joined through each one, as Telegram explained when it introduced expiring invite links. One invite link per source gives you joins per source for free.
- OnlyFans and other platforms: use whatever per-link attribution your platform or your tools give you, so that each source has its own link and its own count of subscribers.
- A landing page in between: if you use a page between the ad and the platform, pass a source parameter and a click id in its URL, and keep them through to the final link.
Measure cost per payer, not cost per join
A join or a free subscription is not a payer. The source that brings the cheapest joins can bring the most expensive payers. Track three numbers per source:
- Spend over the test.
- Joins or free subscriptions from that source's link.
- Payers: people from that link who paid at least once in the window you chose.
Cost per payer is spend divided by payers. Compare it with the ceiling you wrote down. When your setup can report sales back to the traffic source, an S2S postback carrying the click id lets the network report payers per placement too; our guide on S2S postback tracking for adult advertisers shows how.
Run a controlled first test
- Pick one creator, one offer, one country and one device.
- Use two sources at most, each with its own link and the same landing page.
- Set a fixed test budget per source, small enough to lose.
- Let each source spend its budget, then wait long enough for joins to turn into payments.
- Keep the source with the lower cost per payer, cut the other, and only then change one thing at a time.
Our media buyer's guide to buying adult traffic covers pricing models and funding in more detail, and our list of TrafficJunky alternatives helps you choose a second source.
Rules to respect
Creator promotion on adult sites has rules on both sides. The traffic source has a creative policy, and the platform has its own terms on promotion and links. Read both before you upload a creative. Everyone shown must be an adult, and nothing in the ad or the landing page may suggest otherwise.
Where Lana Network fits
Lana Network sells adult display traffic in an open first-price auction above public floors, prepaid and capped by your balance. Today we sell mostly United States visitors on a mobile browser set to English or Spanish, outside data centers and known VPN networks. Advertisers report sales back by S2S postback, so placements are judged on paying customers. Floors and terms are on our advertisers page, and the filters we apply are on our traffic quality page. We are new and our volume is small: test us next to your current source, not instead of it.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good cost per payer for an OnlyFans or Telegram campaign?
There is no universal number. It is the most you can spend to acquire one paying fan and still profit, given what a payer brings you net of fees over the period you choose. Work it out before you buy any traffic.
How do I track which ad brought a Telegram subscriber?
Create one invite link per source. Telegram shows who joined through each link, so you can count joins per source and then check which of those people paid.
Should I buy popunder or banner traffic for a creator offer?
Test both, one at a time, on the same country and device. A popunder shows your full landing page; a banner needs a creative that earns the tap. Keep whichever gives the lower cost per payer.