Longtime print publications find fortune in putting their extensive archives online for readers and advertisers, reports The New York Times.

Sports Illustrated has released the Vault, a free archive of material dating back to its 1955 debut. The Vault includes text, images and video, all searchable by users.

The Vault enables the seasoned publication to leverage its history against younger rivals like ESPN, which lacks the same depth of relevant content (as well as a competitive number of indexable pages). The archive is expected to generate five million additional readers per month.

Analysts say old material is less attractive to advertisers in general. But the low cost of building and maintaining the database, coupled with the likelihood that archived material will improve Sports Illustrated's organic ranking in search engines, make the move worth the trouble.

Sports Illustrated says revenue from the Vault will account for five percent of online revenue in its first year of operation.