On Thursday, SI.com will introduce the “Vault” to readers, which is a free online archive containing all of their old covers, photos and stories. The “Vault” will also contain video material as well.
SI.com already draws more than six million unique visitors each month, according to Nielsen Online (publications insist that the true numbers are much higher than Nielsen’s ratings), and executives of the magazine predict the Vault could add five million monthly readers.
“The real hidden value of this is what it does for search,” said John Squires, executive vice president of Time Inc., the Time Warner subsidiary that publishes Sports Illustrated. The move quadruples the site’s volume, he said. “We’ll have to work our way up the search algorithms over time, but eventually, someone searches Johnny Unitas, and SI.com is going to pop up.”
Many publications, including most major magazines, still offer little or no archive access online. And of those that do allow readers to look deep into their histories, many charge for it, like The Washington Post or The Atlantic Monthly, whose online archives both go back to the 19th century.
I think this is a fantastic idea and kudos to SI for not charging people to view the material. I’m sure we’ve all wanted to go back in time and re-read an interesting article done on one of our favorite athletes or teams. Now readers have the opportunity to enjoy a little blast from the past and this will be a great resource for bloggers, too.
