The guest said it, you published it, and the letter is addressed to you.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 — Every episode is a publication. A guest’s remark, a clip under the intro, a review of a real business — the claim names the show, not the person who said it.

General liability

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

Without it — Guests, crews and audiences move through a room full of cable and stands, and a venue or a sponsor will ask for the certificate.

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 — Microphones, cameras, interfaces and laptops go to remote recordings and live shows, which is where the studio policy stops.

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 — The feed, the subscriber list, the sponsor contracts and the unreleased episodes sit in accounts that get taken over.

Event liability

General liability for a single event or a season of them — the cover a venue, park or municipality requires, naming them, before they will confirm the booking.

Without it — A live taping, a meetup or a tour date is an event with a crowd, and the venue requires cover for it by name.

Event cancellation

Reimburses the committed costs of an event that cannot go ahead for a reason outside your control — and the exposure peaks before the gates open, because most of the money is spent by then.

Without it — A live show is sold before it happens, and a host who loses their voice or a venue that floods does not refund the deposits you paid.

Business owners policy

General liability and property packaged together. Cheaper than buying them separately when you qualify, and most small businesses do.

Without it — For a show with a room and a few people, the property and the liability belong in one package rather than three policies.

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 — An editor, a producer or a booker on payroll is an employee, and in most states that is the point at which cover is required rather than optional.

Do I need insurance to start a podcast?

Nobody will make you, and for a two-person show recorded in a spare room the honest first purchase is cover for the gear, because that is the loss most likely to happen in year one. What changes the answer is an audience and money: once the show has sponsors, guests with reputations, clips under the intro and a mailing list, the exposures that matter are the ones that come from publishing, and those are not small. Media liability is the policy that answers them, and the moment anyone puts an insurance clause in front of you — a sponsor, a venue, a network — it stops being optional.

Insurance for creators, organized by what goes wrong

What happens if a guest defames someone on my show?

The claim comes to you. Whoever published the statement is the defendant a lawyer writes to, and the guest’s appearance release protects you from the guest, not from the person the guest talked about. Media liability responds to it as a defamation claim against the publisher and pays the defense, which is most of the cost of any such claim whether or not it had merit. Editing is the other half of the answer: a show that names real people and businesses should have someone listen before it goes out, and underwriters ask whether one does.

What media liability covers, and what it costs

Is a video podcast a production for insurance purposes?

For the gear and the liability, it is the same show with more equipment. Where it becomes a production is the moment someone else wants to distribute it — a network, a streamer, a platform paying for exclusivity. A licensing deal brings the requirements a television production faces: media liability at a limit the licensor sets, a retroactive date that reaches back over the episodes being licensed, sometimes general liability with them named as an additional insured. The video itself does not trigger that; the contract does, and it is the same contract a channel signs.

What a channel is asked for before a licensing deal

A network wants to license the show. What will they ask for?

Media liability first, at a limit they specify — and it can be far above what an online policy offers. Tubi, on a deal we handled for a creator, asked for $5,000,000 before it would license the channel. They will want a certificate, and often a retroactive date that covers the back catalogue rather than only the new episodes, because they are licensing the archive. Some also want general liability and to be an additional insured on it. The clause is in the agreement; read it before you buy, because a policy bought at the wrong limit or with today’s date as the retroactive date gets replaced rather than fixed.

The retroactive date, and why it decides whether the deal closes

What does podcast insurance cost?

A range rather than a number. The gear is priced on its value and where it goes. The liability is priced on revenue and on how you make it, and the media form is priced on what the show is about — a true-crime show that names people is not the same risk as a cooking show — on audience size, on whether you use third-party clips and music, and on the limit and retroactive date you need. A small show with a clearance routine and a modest limit sits at the low end; a show being licensed at $5,000,000 with an archive to cover is a different purchase. The application asks for exactly the things that move the price.

Does it cover my studio gear?

Gear in the studio is property and belongs on the studio policy — a business owners policy or a property form at that address. Gear that leaves the studio for a remote recording, a conference or a live show is inland marine, because the property policy stops at the door, and theft from a car is by far the most common way podcasters lose equipment. If you run a room that other shows book by the hour, that is a studio business with its own exposures — instruments and equipment left in your care, unsupervised hire — and it has its own page.

Insurance for the studio itself

I host live shows and meetups. Is that covered?

Not automatically. A live taping in a hired venue is an event, and the venue will require liability cover for it by name, with itself as an additional insured — a show with an annual general liability policy can usually issue that certificate, and a show without one buys event liability for the date. The larger question is cancellation: tickets are sold and deposits paid before the show happens, and a host who loses their voice, a venue problem or weather does not refund them. Event cancellation cover is bought when the date is committed, not when the forecast turns.

Liability for a one-off live show