Xumo Alum Colin Petrie-Norris Launches AI Studio

Colin Petrie-Norris, who previously built Xumo TV, has launched Fairground Entertainment, a new studio and streaming distribution service focused on AI-generated content.

Fairground Entertainment has raised a $4 million seed round from a syndicate of investors led by Viant Technology. The company aims to unveil its first slate of feature-length programming in the third quarter in partnership with a suite of creators using AI technology. The initial projects will reimagine IP in the public domain, as well as tap into officially licensed IP.

“The entertainment industry is at a pivotal moment, driven by the rapid advancement of AI technologies that promise to redefine content creation,” said Petrie-Norris, founder and CEO of Fairground Entertainment. “Fairground’s charter is to empower emerging creators to master these new tools, enabling richer storytelling that the industry is hungry for. We aim to set new industry standards by fueling a burgeoning content community, delivering high-caliber entertainment at unprecedented speeds to market, and across a vast distribution network.”

Petrie-Norris built Xumo TV, which he sold to Comcast and continued to scale through a joint venture with Charter Communications.

“Fairground Entertainment shares our vision for innovation in streaming entertainment, centered on the transformative power of AI,” said Tim Vanderhook, co-founder and CEO of Viant Technology. “Viant Technology founded Xumo together with Colin, so we know first-hand that he is a skilled entrepreneur. His expertise in scaling and monetizing streaming platforms makes him the ideal leader to move the content creation space forward with an AI-first approach.”