Zinc Media Group, the UK-based factual production and distribution company behind labels such as Brook Lapping, Rex, Supercollider and Tern, has launched a dedicated artificial intelligence label called Cicada. The move matters because it formalises the group's growing AI operations into a single unit, reflecting a wider industry trend of production companies creating official AI roles and brands as they work out how to fold the technology into content-making and commercial workflows.

Cicada will centralise Zinc's AI activity and offer expertise to the group's production companies, branded content and post-production teams, and clients. Zinc said it generated several million pounds of AI-related revenue in 2025 through industry trade, AI-powered TV commercials and other work. The label will be led by Zinc's Chief Technology Officer, Olly Strous, working alongside Jenny Springett, who joins from the group's entertainment label Electric Violet as AI Innovation Lead. Executives framed Cicada as focused on both attention-grabbing creativity and productivity that delivers a return on investment, describing it as "a playground with a purpose".