What's the point of news sources requiring registration?

Wouldn't they get more links otherwise?

[HughMungus]

I mean who wants to link to a page that requires registration? I can see it from a marketing standpoint but I really don't see the paper I'm registered with using that information very much.

[diamondgrl]

It's Marketing 101 for the old school. I don't use that term derogatively since it has worked so well in the past and they have an existing clientelle they are trying to satisfy. Newspapers typically have very detailed data about their users. What they lack is equivalent info about their web users. So they are just trying to extend that info.

But it's possible that in the new age, they would get more value out of not collecting the information and simply letting the traffic roll in. It's a question about how much they rely on traditional advertisers for their web revenue and how much they rely on sources such as Adsense, etc. which relies more on clicks, not knowledge of the users.