The next big career move for young Hollywood? Reading audio smut

Founded back in 2019 by Caroline Spiegel (sister to Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel), Quinn offers its subscribers access to a vast library of aural porn that invites listeners to imagine themselves in all sorts of hot and heavy situations. Most of the platform’s stories — which cover a variety of genres and a wide range of sexual kinks — are written and produced by independent content creators who record the audio with their own voices. But for the past few years, the service has been partnering with celebrities like Jesse Williams, Andrew Scott, and Manny Jacinto for projects that are clearly designed to capitalize on established fame.

While erotic audio content is nothing new, these high-profile celebrity collaborations have helped Quinn turn it into more of a mainstream commodity. Casting the stars of sex-forward TV dramas as the voices of spicy audio romances makes sense because there’s plenty of thematic overlap. But these projects also give Quinn a way to tap into these celebrities’ hyper-engaged fanbases.

Some of Quinn’s success in this particular realm feels also rooted in the way that Hollywood dynamics have been shifting in the past few years. Audience attention is increasingly split between traditional entertainment and social / mobile content, with the latter often winning with Gen Z in popularity. You would have been hard-pressed to find leads from popular streaming series recording porn on the side a decade ago, but we’re now living in a moment where Oscar-winning A-listers are doing commercials for credit cards and travel booking sites.