The Real Reason NSFW Comics Own Kickstarter
Don't act surprised when you see that it's money.
In December, I began building a spreadsheet to categorize and link each and every comics project launched in that month in the Kickstarter Comics category. I did not include non-comics projects (e.g., pins, art books, sketch books, etc.) allowed in the Comics category. My intent was to collect and summarize frequency and funding data per genre, with a secondary objective of comparing launch frequencies and funding levels of NSFW projects to those of other genres.
Allow Me to Make Myself Clear
Before I launch into the numbers, though, allow me a few lines to address a matter of concern. There’s been some question about calling ‘NSFW’ a genre. Well, that’s really just a matter of semantics. Dictionary.com defines “genre” as:
“A category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter.”
I have consistently provided the same operational definition for what I’m calling - for ease of reference - NSFW comics:
Features nudity and/or explicit sexual content on covers and/or explicit sexual content on the interior pages of the comic.
I think it’s clear to anyone reasonable that a primary focus on explicit sexual content satisfies the genre-defined criteria of “style” and “subject matter” (and, probably, “form”, too), so I justifiably stick to my classification of NSFW as a genre. I suppose, alternatively, I could call the same genre something like “Sexually Explicit”, but that’s really arbitrary and, again, a matter of nothing more than semantics. NSFW is common parlance in this day and age, and we’re rolling with it.
Another question arose about where I get my “numbers”. People, Kickstarter funding and backer totals are right there in plain view on the project pages. I put them in a spreadsheet and added them up. It’s no more complicated than that. This ain’t math class.
Now That We Understand Each Other…
Now, the “numbers” for December, 2024:
Keep in mind that December is, far and away, the annual nadir of the crowdfunding calendar. Yet, NSFW comics accounted for nearly $520,000 and almost half of the approximately $1.2 million raised by real comics on Kickstarter that month.
The only factor preventing NSFW from outpacing the entire remainder of the genre field by multiple factors was the odd breakout performance of the Comedy comics genre, which coincidentally dropped two massively successful projects in Brawl in the Family Ultimate Edition + Dededoll! ($259,835 raised by 1837 backers) and Archie Comics Golden Age Facsimile Collection ($101,903 raised by 456 backers).
Why NSFW Comics Are Kicking All the Ass
Some eye-opening facts about the performance of NSFW comics in December:
Although NSFW comics (32 launches) accounted for only 29.4% of projects launched in the Kickstarter Comics category, they pulled down 47% of the funding among the top 6 genres. That’s a whopping funding gap compared with the other best-performing categories (excluding Comedy).
Only 3 out of the 32 NSFW campaigns (9%) failed to fund (one of those was suspended by Kickstarter). By comparison, more than 50% of Action-Adventure projects failed, as did nearly half of Sci-Fi campaigns and almost a third of Fantasy and Superhero launches.
The top-funded NSFW comic - NIPPY #1 - 2 - the NSFW comedy/fantasy returns for a sequel! from Pat Shand’s Cheeky Comics imprint - raised more funds alone ($74,396 by 1519 backers) than any other single genre besides Comedy, again thanks only to those two unusually successful Comedy projects. That’s…damned impressive.
Key Takeaways & Miscellania
It may seem that I’m stating the obvious here, but on the shoulders of data and not on the basis of assumptions or anecdotes. NSFW comics fund at disproportionately higher totals and at disproportionately higher rates than any other genre of comics on Kickstarter, and it’s not close. Not remotely.
It serves to reason that competent and talented creators who also prioritize funding make the decision to enter the NSFW arena to increase their exposure, their chances of success, and the probability of higher funding. Who can blame them?
Beyond NSFW and Comedy, the Fantasy genre stood out as the next most robust, with $72,578 in funding across 10 successful projects and 1800 backers, led by - get this - another Pat Shand project: WILD WISPS #1 - 3: a comic of creatures, fantasy, & myth ($29,242 funded by 818 backers). Total dominance. Leave some for the rest of us, dude! Wow.
Those are the most salient points to extract from the December funding data, and I think this information substantiates many observations, and even some concerns, around the role of NSFW comics in diluting, or even tainting, the general pool of subject matter available in the Kickstarter Comics category. What to do with this information now? Firstly, let’s give it a few months to see if any of these findings actually develop into robust trends. Then, we can re-evaluate, but we can revisit the previously released January, 2025 launch frequency data to foreshadow what the funding data might reveal, with NSFW launches coming back to Earth with 39 projects and 16.1% of total launches for the month.
In just a few weeks, I’ll have that January funding data, and we’ll conduct some comparisons to see what’s consistent, if anything.
More soon.
Have a great weekend!
Kevin
I think another reason why NSFW does so well in the Kickstarter space is because Kickstarter gives it so much space. Which makes sense from a business perspective. But it’s like giving Coca-Cola free advertising in Times Square. They’re already going to succeed. So why not elevate those who can benefit more from the exposure? Because it won’t make Kickstarter as much money.
I wonder; is the percentage of NSFW comics more driven by the “male gaze” than any other factor? If there is certain content that will appeal to men more than women it’s tits. What is the percentage in the comics section of male buyers vs. female? That might also be the biggest tell on the platform. Women are considered high value consumers everywhere, but are they on Kickstarter? My personal feeling is that the platform has lost more women buyers because of its low brow approach to this market. I used to consider myself a big buyer, until too many of the creations I supported went unfinished and undelivered. Then my return to buying has been further eroded by the prevailing NSFW sexualized women on the site. These are only my gut feelings, not any numerical proof to back this up. Perhaps you have more information.