Spotify Debuts ‘Archie’ Motion Comic Amid Pivot To Audio-Visual Content

Spotify’s mobile app is now home to an Archie motion comic series — which superimposes music and voice actors over illustrations — called Spotlight: Archie — The New Riverdale.

The streaming music service partnered with Archie Comics on the series, which consists of six episodes so far. Episodes will follow the plot of the original Archie comics, according to The Verge, as opposed to the CW show Riverdale. Viewers can read the comics as they listen to dialogue and accompanying music. However, the comic auto-plays, so reading along may be challenging. The first six episodes are now live, running between nine and 15 minutes apiece.

The series exemplifies Spotify’s pivot not to video, but rather to audio-visual content. In October 2017, Spotify cancelled the 12 original video series

it first announced in May 2016. The streaming service cited discoverability issues and poor promotion. Instead, Spotify ended up focusing on visual podcasts, which it categorized within a section of the app called Spotlight. The new Archie series falls into this format.

Last month, Spotify hired former Conde Nast Entertainment president Dawn Ostroff as its new chief content officer. Ostroff’s history working on video for Conde Nast brands and, before that, at the CW, may indicate Spotify’s willingness to continue to experiment with audio-visual content.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the series was in partnership with Nerdist. It’s been updated to the correct information above.