It is, increasingly, at least in the Sports content world. The Athletic, for example, has its own comment section (duplicated on a much larger scale by Reddit

It is, increasingly, at least in the Sports content world. The Athletic, for example, has its own comment section (duplicated on a much larger scale by Reddit discussion of quotes from the paywalled articles). Even niche outlets like the Dunc'd On Podcast come with their own Discord. The lure, I think, is basically what's being discussed here. Sports discussion ... suffers perhaps more than average from an absence of moderation, so a paywalled community is seen as a benefit.