Four months after going online in February 2021, the women-centric adult site afterglow appears to be on the road to success.
“Since we launched, we have grown to thousands of subscribers, with 60% of trial users converting to paid status,” said afterglow Founder & CEO Lilly Sparks. “What’s surprised me is that it’s not just women that love afterglow. We have lots of men subscribers that are drawn to our content as well!”
The secret to afterglow’s success: It is an adult site where people can feel comfortable as well as aroused. Through free articles such as ‘Struggling With Orgasm Anxiety? Here’s How To Fix It’, ‘10 Leg Shaking, Toe Curling Toys You Have To Try’, and ‘Everything You Need to Know About Threesomes’ – plus a range of videos for paid subscribers –
“afterglow is merging porn and sexual wellness,” said Sparks. “Our mission is to inspire great sex. To do this, afterglow creates content by partnering with amazing producers that share our values. We strive to create content that’s real enough to be relatable, but also hot enough to masturbate to.”
Sparks was inspired to create afterglow by her own less-than-inspiring sex life.
“I was in a relationship with my high school sweetheart from age 15-30, and due to our lack of experience, our sex life was ‘meh’,” she revealed.” “At the time, I was a successful entrepreneur: I could figure out how to grow a company to millions of revenue, yet in my personal life I couldn’t figure out how to have good sex. I felt alone and embarrassed, and I couldn’t find any resources to help me. Most people learn about what sex looks like though porn, so I figured porn was the best place to start.”
Today, afterglow is set to help people like Lilly Sparks’ former self, whatever their gender.
“Our goal is to become the home for sex on the Internet, starting with women as our target audience,” she explained. “60% of women are dissatisfied with their sex life, and we want to change that.”
As for the wealth of porn already available online? According to Sparks, it isn’t actually that helpful to people wanting to enhance their sex lives.
“People watch porn to explore their fantasies, but when I went to mainstream porn sites I didn’t see my fantasies represented,” she said. “I wanted to show sex that felt intimate and relatable.”
So why does Lilly Sparks think afterglow has what it takes to become the home for sex on the Internet? Simple: “Sexual wellness is a core part of afterglow’s DNA, not an afterthought,” she replied. “We’re redefining how people experience porn. Most customers come for a quick fix, then delete their browser history and close their computer. Watching porn is nothing to be ashamed of.”
“At afterglow, we create pleasure journeys that encourage you to stick around after watching a video,” she explained. “From watching a behind-the-scenes interview, to doing a guided masturbation exercise with a partner, or reading an article about how to talk dirty, afterglow helps customers dive deeper into exploring their sexuality. Becoming more comfortable with yourself drives better sex — with a partner or solo!”
To illustrate her point, Sparks cited the afterglow feature Lip Service, an afterglow original film starring Avery Black and Oliver Davis.
“They are a real-life couple on a voyeuristic journey in which we are able to witness the success of communication between lovers through sensual, meaningful touch and borderline worship of the female body,” she said. “The viewer has the opportunity to witness seasoned performers navigate an intimate connection that is often overlooked and undersold in porn.”
To enhance the usefulness of enjoying Lip Service, “we pair this video with a guided partner exercise called Delicious Cunnilingus that gives audio instructions to the giving and receiving partner for maximum pleasure,” said Sparks.
“There’s also an article called ‘How to Stop Getting In Your Head During Oral Sex’. Anxiety receiving oral sex is something many of us struggle with, and these exercises have helped me personally relax and have more fun.”
As for those in the adult industry who doubt that a women-centric porn site can be anything but a niche player?
“30% of porn watchers are women and 75% of women have watched porn in the last 6 months,” Sparks stated. “I believe demand for such content has been constrained by the shame and stigma society has around porn and the true demand is much larger. To bring this demand into the open, we have to meet people where they are at, and show people that porn is a healthy part of a balanced sex life.”
