Your viewers copy what you do. Insure the day one of them gets hurt.Founded by an Emmy-nominated television editor.

Media liability

Covers claims arising from what you publish (defamation, copyright and trademark infringement, invasion of privacy and misuse of a person’s likeness) on an annual policy for creators, podcasters, publishers and authors.

Without it — Copycat injury is written here, as contingent bodily injury, along with the copyright, likeness and defamation claims every channel carries. Ask for the endorsement by name and read its sublimit.

General liability

Third-party bodily injury and property damage. It is the line nearly every contract names by default.

Without it — A landowner, a brand or an event asks for a certificate before you film, and an injury to a guest on location lands here, so long as animals and stunts are not excluded.

Inland marine & equipment

Tools, equipment and property in transit. It picks up exactly where commercial property stops, which is the moment the item leaves the building.

Without it — Cameras, lenses, audio and the drone travel to every pasture and are covered by neither the farm policy nor a homeowners policy once they are working.

Third party property damage

Damage to property in your care while you are shooting on it, meaning the location itself and the fixtures in it. General liability excludes property in your care, custody and control, which is precisely what a location is.

Without it — Damage to the machinery, buildings and fences of a farm you are filming on, which general liability leaves out because you are using them.

Hired & non-owned auto

Covers vehicles the business does not own but its people drive on the job: rentals, and employees running errands in their own cars. Their personal auto policy will not cover a business trip, and the claim lands on the business. Pricing depends entirely on HOW it is bought: as an endorsement on a general liability policy we write, HNOA often costs a few hundred dollars; as a stand-alone (monoline) policy it runs $2,500 to $5,000, and association practitioner programs (CPH, CM&F and similar) generally cannot take the endorsement, so "add HNOA to my existing policy for $300-$800" is usually not a real option. A package carrying GL, professional liability and HNOA together is typically cheaper than the monoline.

Without it — The truck, the trailer and the rental driven to a shoot on the channel’s business, claimed against the channel and not only against the driver.

Workers compensation

Required in almost every state the moment you have employees. Priced on payroll and class code, which is why the class code is worth arguing about.

Without it — A paid helper on set makes you an employer, and in most states that means a policy.

Cyber & tech E&O

Breach response, ransomware and the notification costs that follow. Technology errors and omissions sits on the same policy and covers the software or service itself failing a client, which is the half most tech companies find out about too late.

Without it — An account takeover is the one way of losing channel income that a policy will actually pay for.

Stunts & pyrotechnics

Coverage for productions running stunt work, vehicle action or pyrotechnics. The standard production policy carries a printed stunt and pyrotechnic exclusion, so this is not a limit that quietly sits there. The production has to be scheduled and underwritten before the exclusion comes off.

Without it — Anything filmed for the danger of it, a bull, a rope trick or a jump, is a stunt to an underwriter and is written separately.

Am I liable if a viewer copies my farm video and gets hurt?

You can be sued, and that is the expense to plan for. Courts rarely make a publisher pay for a reader who imitated an article, but a channel that stages something dangerous and invites people to try it is in a different position, and the defense costs arrive either way. The coverage is called contingent bodily injury, and underwriters call the claim a copycat injury. It is written on a media liability policy as an endorsement with its own sublimit, because the general liability form sold to creators excludes it.

Copycat injury, and what the endorsement pays

Does content creator insurance cover animals?

Often not on the general liability policy. The creator forms we place exclude injuries from animals and stunts during a shoot, and putting animals back on takes a questionnaire and separate pricing from the underwriter. The media liability policy is a different form and the one we placed carried no animal exclusion, so a viewer hurt copying how you work cattle is a media question. A guest kicked by a horse on your set is a general liability question. Ask for each answer in writing.

Does my farm liability policy cover my YouTube channel?

Do not assume it does. A farm liability policy is written and priced for farming, and a channel that earns ad revenue and brand money is a second business the farm carrier never rated. Some farm forms exclude business pursuits other than farming outright. Ask your farm carrier in writing whether filming for income is covered, and expect the answer to point you to a creator policy. Equipment and product injuries are the exception, and the media carrier will usually send those back to the farm policy.

Who is liable when someone is hurt filming on another person’s farm?

Usually you, and the location agreement decides how much. Most landowners will ask you to sign a release that holds them harmless and names them as an additional insured on your general liability, which shifts the claim from their farm policy to yours. Read it before you sign, because a broad indemnity can make you answer for the landowner’s own bull or loose gate. If you borrow or drive their equipment, damage to it is excluded from general liability and needs third-party property damage coverage.

What naming a landowner as additional insured does

Can I insure my income if the channel is demonetized or a brand deal falls through?

No. There is no market for income lost to a platform decision, an algorithm change or a sponsor walking away, and a policy sold for it will not pay. Contingent business interruption is a real coverage, but it attaches to a commercial property policy and pays when a supplier or customer suffers physical damage, which is not a creator’s risk. Two things are insurable. Cyber coverage pays lost income after an account takeover, and key person coverage pays if the person on camera dies or is disabled.

Key person coverage for a one-face business

Do I need workers compensation for family helping on shoots?

If you pay them, very likely, and the state decides who counts as an employee rather than the way you pay them. Unpaid family on a family farm is treated differently in many states, so tell us who helps and how. General liability will not cover an injury to someone working for you, so a helper hurt by an animal or a machine on set has no policy at all without workers compensation.

What does insurance cost for a small farm or ranch channel?

For one ranch channel we quoted this fall, which had not yet published, media liability at $1,000,000 with a $5,000 deductible and the copycat endorsement came to about $1,970 a year. General liability with hired and non-owned auto came to about $1,760, and cyber to about $1,400. That is one account, not a range. Revenue, the gear list, drones, animals on set and whether you sell products all move the figure.

I also sell beef, eggs or honey from the channel. Is that covered?

Not by the media policy, and that is where the copycat endorsement stops too. Food and merchandise are product liability, which is written on general liability or on its own, and the media carrier on the placement above said in writing that product and equipment injuries belong there. Tell us what you sell and where, because direct sales of meat and eggs carry their own underwriting questions.

Product liability for what the channel sells

What does a farm and ranch channel insurance application ask for?

The applications for farm and ranch channel businesses ask about 4 things above all: what types of skiing trips do you offer (backcountry, heli-skiing, snow-cat, other); how do you decide when conditions are too unsafe or unskiable to run a trip; what are your protocols for finding and rescuing someone buried in an avalanche; have you had any incidents, claims, lawsuits or losses related to your ski guiding business. Have your guide roster with each guide's age, experience, and resume for key staff and your avalanche transceiver maintenance records and schedule ready and a quote takes a day instead of a week.