How much does a camgirl earn?

How much does a camgirl make? This is one of the first questions girls considering becoming a camgirl ask themselves. The answer is not simple because it depends on many factors: public/private show, platform used, time spent, popularity, beginner/professional…

However, we will bring you as many answers as possible so that you know where you stand.

Compensation, turnover, salary, time spent, what are we talking about?

Before getting into the heart of the matter, I think it’s important to (re)define a number of points. Indeed, what’s the point of giving figures if we don’t know what they correspond to!

• salary vs remuneration: for the vast majority, a camgirl is not an employee but a freelancer. As a result, she is not receiving a salary but a wage. Certainly, I seem to play on words but there are still big differences: your remuneration is not fixed, it depends on your work. You want to take a break from working hours? -You’ll get less money. You want to take 3 weeks off? -You won’t earn any money for 3 weeks. You are ill and unable to work for 10 days – you will not earn any money during those 10 days. Nothing prohibitive, but it’s different from a salaried person and should be taken into account when making comparisons. In return, the more you work, the more you earn!
• work time ≠ show time: just as a teacher’s work time is not limited to giving lessons (she also has to prepare her lessons, prepare assignments/checks and correct them), a camgirl’s work time is not limited to performing shows. She has to prepare herself “physically” for the shows (make-up, lingerie,…) but also prepare the show (organization, idea of new theme…). Also, a regular presence on social networks is essential. Again, nothing exceptional but it is to be taken into consideration. Note that this difference is lessened with experience. When you start, the preparation can be quite long.
• work time: the more you work, the more likely you are to earn money, logical. In a “typical” job, you work 7 hours/day, 5 days/week. In my opinion, it’s a rhythm that is hardly tenable, not to say untenable, as a camgirl, at least on the show making part. Libido, rules, masturbation on demand, psychological state to smile and give pleasure…, impossible to keep this rhythm of 7 hours/day, 5 days/week. The maxim work more to earn more has its limits in the camgirl profession. By experience, it seems reasonable to me to stay at 3h or 4h of show per day if we want to achieve this activity by taking pleasure and perennial.
• Turnover vs gross pay vs net pay: it is important not to mix these three figures.
  • Turnover: it corresponds to the volume of business you have done, in other words, the amount that the platform pays you for the shows. It is about 50% of what the viewers (=your customers) pay.
  • the gross remuneration: it is the turnover subtracted from the operating expenses inherent in the activity of camgirl: computer, webcam, sex toys, sexy lingerie … At the beginning of the activity, these charges can represent a significant amount. After a few months, it is common to consider them as negligible. Thus, we can assimilate the turnover to the gross remuneration (it remains an approximation).
  • the net remuneration: it is the gross remuneration from which is subtracted all the social contributions. They depend on the country in which you practice and the structure you have chosen. For a camgirl in France under the status of micro-enterprise, the contributions are about 25% of the turnover (much less at the beginning of the activity thanks to the aid for creation). You will find more details on the micro-enterprise in this article.

It seemed important to me to make this little clarification. Be aware that the figures found on the various websites are about the turnover and not the net earnings. Now let’s get to the heart of the matter.

How much does a camgirl earn: analysis in the literature

To write this article I obviously started by doing an internet search. I must confess that being satisfied with my camgirl income (we’ll get to that later), I had never really asked myself the question. The result is that it is very difficult to get an idea so much the announced figures, beyond seeming wonderful, are not put in context.

When I see amounts like $50,000 a month on chaturbate, that is certainly very enticing but in no way reflects the reality of the average camgirl. Mind you, I’m not saying that this kind of pay is wrong but it only concerns a handful of girls who manage to trump page 1.

So I’m going to give you below a summary that I think is realistic of camgirl earnings. I took into account the information available on the internet, my personal case as well as that of my camgirl friends. It is not a study made from the statistics of cam sites but simply my personal analysis that engages only me (which is nevertheless part of the sector for several years).

• beginner: between 800$ and 2000$. This is a beginner camgirl. She has been performing shows for less than a year. She must create a community and learn the “dynamics” of shows. She can work on the side part time or full time.
• confirmed: between $2500 and $5000. She is a camgirl with more than a year of seniority. She earns more than a beginner camgirl because of her experience in the realization of shows and the gain of exposure thanks to her seniority (new clients + some old ones who become regular clients). She actively participates in promoting her activity outside of the cam sites (social networks, personal website,…). At this stage, it is possible to work part-time on the side (more by passion, social life,… than by financial necessity)
• expert / professional: between 5000$ and infinity! This is the professional camgirl by definition. She has a large community and does this business full time. Seduction secrets, affiliate marketing and promotion on social networks have no secrets for her. This is a full time activity. It takes several years of work to get to this point.

Camgirl income: answer with my example

After presenting you with a summary of answers from around the web, I think the best way to answer the question of how much does a camgirl make is to present you with my own example.

Some preliminary remarks:

• the figures announced are turnover (in $ being on chaturbate)
• these are just my numbers and absolutely not an absolute truth. There are surely girls who earn less (read the blog tips! a little self-promotion doesn’t hurt ;-)) and girls who earn more (good for them).
• I’ve never been a hardcore show person in the sense that I don’t stay on air for hours and hours. I do shows of 4h max (more like 2h to 3h on average), at most 5 times a week. It’s pretty easy to earn more by working more but I found my balance that way.

Being a studious former student, I made sure to record my monthly show cam earnings in a small Excel spreadsheet since I started my business in February 2014. Here are the results.

Some explanation:

• February 2014 -> December 2014: I’m starting this camgirl business on the side of my 35h (and more…) a week job. I do not hide you that the cumulation of the two activities was somewhat complicated in terms of organization. But I enjoyed this new activity and this new challenge. The fact to see the income progressing little by little was also motivating. The first weeks were the most complicated because the interaction with the viewers was limited to say the least. With hindsight, I think the most important thing is not to get discouraged and not to focus on money at first. That will come later. I quickly got to $1500/month doing an average of 3 shows a week.
• January 2015 -> October 2017: camgirl becomes my one and only income generating activity (in other words, I quit my job!). After a few months of finding the right rhythm, I’m stabilizing at about $3000-$4000 a month in revenue. I do about 5 shows a week but work a lot on my social networks. The goal was to get as many viewers as possible in order to regularize my income. I keep a very good memory of this “time” when I alternated show – sexy photo – gym (yes, we must maintain the body and mind!). You will notice that these amounts are lower than those presented in the previous chapter for an experienced full-time camgirl. Indeed, I could have earned more but the lifestyle I had developed suited me very well. It would have been possible at that time to earn more by working more, but I didn’t feel the need to. I wasn’t really a “full-time” person.
• November 2017 -> now: and yes, you can see on the graph a significant drop in my income from shows. Logical, I’m doing much less cam but it’s for a good cause. Indeed, I started a new activity and I must therefore share my time between the cam and this new activity. This new activity is still in its launching phase (not easy entrepreneurship!) and requires a lot of time to work and not regularly. The time spent on the show is therefore an adjustment variable for me. But I have good hopes to get back to a more regular rhythm in the next few months. Small note: the consequent drop in April and May 2019 is due to the fact I was unwell for 5 weeks at that time and therefore unable to broadcast.

That’s it, I’ve been as transparent as possible and I hope this information has been helpful to you. If you’re a regular reader of my articles, you’ve probably read my last article “camgirl, take advantage of affiliate marketing to increase and diversify your income”. So I’m going to give you my income from affiliate marketing as well. Here they are:

I unfortunately started this strategy a bit late (mid 2015) but you can see that these revenues are overall growing and becoming non-negligible. The most important thing? They require almost no extra effort from me!

So I hope this article has enlightened you on the “how much does a camgirl earn?” question. To conclude, I can only add the graph show turnover + affiliate turnover. To be interpreted with the remarks made above.

If you’re interested and these figures have whetted your appetite, feel free to read my guide to becoming a camgirl.

Donald Thompson

Author