That's the scary part. He spends years building a channel and it can be wiped out in a day. He needs to diversify. Sponsorships/ads won't help, they'd die with the channel.
I'm not in this space, but maybe patreon? Does onlyfans do non-porn? Vimeo?
How does one minimize risk to this $150k/year revenue stream?
The way it's managed currently is too laid back to be accidental, there's so many things that could have been done to increase revenue and secure side channels. I can only assume he has no interest in making it more complicated for the sake of safety.
Onlyfans doesn't do porn, nu-uh, where did you even get that idea? It doesn't market specifically to adult content, is what I mean, lol. Its current home page does not appeal at all though; it currently shows me a dull kitchen / food channel, some real estate agent, and some model eating caviar.
Anyway, patreon, merchandise and in-video sponsorships are common ways to diversify income. Some big players have expanded to clothing brands or, weirdly enough, doing wrestling / boxing matches.
I think the current biggest alternative to Youtube is Twitch, but that's mainly aimed at gaming channels and live broadcasting.
Don't leave out cryptocurrency scams.
The video will be on youtube from the start, but as a private video. From there a part of their patreons might get very early access (e.g. CGP Grey has a tier for spell checking and gross errors spotting), and then all patreons get access to the final video. But still private (and/or exposed to channel paying members)
After a short time (a day at most) the video gets public and is fully dispatched to everyone on Youtube.
- branded merchandise
- endorse or develop your own products - write a book
- other platforms(TikTok, Instagram etc.)
Or use your experience and brand value to do things your YouTube fans might not even notice:
- public speaking
- consulting/video production for brands
- presenting work for commercial YouTube channels