Explicit is better, but you can tell a lot about someone by tracking their page views and click throughs. I remember seeing an article/presentation, "How to tell I'm a girl", but I cant find the reference. Some of it is pretty simple. If they are reading the sports page, they might be interested in sports. There is a bit of a problem with single computer households, but not huge.
The main thing is get engagement first; ask for the registration later.
Comments
The registration is almost certainly there to improve their ad targeting and CPM rates. If they removed it, it would probably hurt the bottom line.
Explicit is better, but you can tell a lot about someone by tracking their page views and click throughs. I remember seeing an article/presentation, "How to tell I'm a girl", but I cant find the reference. Some of it is pretty simple. If they are reading the sports page, they might be interested in sports. There is a bit of a problem with single computer households, but not huge.
The main thing is get engagement first; ask for the registration later.