Paying for OA to back issues

Here's Ed Kohler making the point that online ads can stay current even while the accompanying content gets older and older (Technology Evangelist, April 16, 2006):

Newspapers sitting on decades of archived articles have been stuck with one viable option for monetizing their archives in the offline world: charging for reprints. However, the online world disconnects the delivery of ads from content making new business models viable such as free and open content since it can be monetized through current and relevant advertising.

PS: The point is about newspapers, not scholarly journals. But how far does it carry over?