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Colin Petrie-Norris was a pioneer in the free, ad-supported television (FAST) space as the founder of Xumo. Now he's hoping to stake a claim on the future of AI entertainment.
Petrie-Norris' new company is Fairground Entertainment, a studio and streaming distribution service focused exclusively on AI-generated TV series. He's raised a $4 million seed round from a syndicate of investors led by Viant Technology, the programmatic advertising company that was one of the founding partners of Xumo alongside Panasonic.
According to Petrie-Norris, Fairground plans to debut the first wave of its original programming in the third quarter of 2025. The initial projects will feature "reimaginings" of "iconic" public domain stories, Petrie-Norris said -- starting with shows based on the Dracula and Robin Hood characters. He said he's also in discussions with studios about officially licensing well-known IP to turn into AI-based series. Certain genres lend themselves to AI-generated material, including animation, kids' content, horror and sci-fi, he added.
The company's mission: to empower creators by combining original storytelling and human creativity with generative AI technology, Petrie-Norris said. For its first projects, Fairground is providing funding to a group of hand-picked AI creators, who are using a variety of generative AI platforms and tools. The startup has more than a dozen AI-powered TV shows in various stages of production, according to Petrie-Norris.
"The entertainment industry is at a pivotal moment, driven by the rapid advancement of AI technologies that promise to redefine content creation," Petrie-Norris said.
With Fairground, he said, "there will be a curiosity click by consumers because it's AI -- but if it's not good, they are not coming back. At the end of the day we're looking for high-quality entertainment."
Petrie-Norris previously founded Xumo in 2011, which offered dozens of free streaming channels. In 2020, he sold Xumo TV to Comcast in a deal reportedly worth more than $100 million; two years later, Comcast and Charter Communications adopted Xumo as the name for their streaming joint venture, which includes the FAST service now called Xumo Play.
Petrie-Norris said Fairground, which is based in Laguna Beach, California, currently has five employees.
Tim Vanderhook, co-founder and CEO of Viant Technology, said in a statement, "Fairground Entertainment shares our vision for innovation in streaming entertainment, centered on the transformative power of AI. 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."
Vanderhook was previously was CEO of Myspace. Time Inc. bought Viant (parent of Myspace) in 2016. He and his brother, Chris Vanderhook, bought out the ownership stake in Viant held by Meredith (which had acquired Time Inc.), and they took the company public in 2021.