Archie digital comics are enjoying a tremendous surge in popularity with over eleven million downloads through the iOS and Android apps. iVerse is chiefly responsible for digitizing all of the monthly publications to push them out to readers as soon as possible. In order to make Archie more accessible, the two sides have signed a new agreement with Tapjoy. This company has a solid mobile advertising and monetization platform and the end result will make thousands of digital comics available for free.
Starting July 18, the Archie Comics app will integrate the Tapjoy Mobile Value Exchange model, in which consumers engage with advertisements to earn virtual rewards. By watching a video, taking a survey, or engaging with an ad, Archie readers will earn credits to unlock more than 2,000 comics via their two apps.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Tapjoy and embrace a new way for our consumers to get the comics they love,” said Jon Goldwater, Archie Comics publisher and co-CEO, in a prepared statement. “Making our great content catalog available through a new free-to-own model establishes a new opportunity for how people read comics and will bring even more fans to the Archie universe.”
With this new technology, Archie Comics will be the first digital comic publisher to utilize virtual rewards and the Mobile Value Exchange model to enable consumers to buy digital comics. It might not appeal to older readers who have more than enough money to spend, but for younger ones, this might be a viable alternative to their parents credit card.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.