A channel doing real money is a production company. Insure it like one.Founded by an Emmy-nominated television editor.

General liability

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

Without it — Locations, venues, film offices and brand partners ask for a certificate before you shoot, and a personal policy cannot issue one.

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, lights, audio and the drone travel to every shoot and are covered by nothing once they leave your address.

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 — The content is the exposure — copyright, defamation, a face or a song you did not clear — and a streamer licensing the channel names the limit it wants, which for one of them is five million dollars.

Drone liability and hullUnmanned aircraft

Injury or damage caused by the aircraft, and the aircraft itself, in the air and on the ground.

Without it — General liability excludes aircraft by name. A channel that flies a drone weekly is carrying an uninsured aviation exposure until it is written on.

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 income loss on a channel that a policy will pay, and only if it was bought before the phishing email.

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 crew car, the editor’s car, the rental at the airport — driven on the channel’s business, claimed against the channel.

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 first editor makes you an employer, and a loan-out that a network or brand wants a certificate from is written as a ghost policy until there is payroll.

Umbrella & excess liability

Extra limit stacked above general liability, auto and employers liability. Usually the cheapest million dollars on the policy.

Without it — A network, a streamer or a national brand specifies limits above primary in the agreement, and an umbrella is how a small company meets them.

Is YouTuber insurance required?

Not by YouTube, and not by law until you have an employee. It is required by everyone you want to work with: a location owner or a film office wants a certificate before you shoot, a brand wants one before the deal is signed, a rental house wants proof the gear is covered before it leaves the counter, and a network or streamer will not license a channel without media liability at the limit the agreement names. A channel that never leaves the bedroom and never signs a contract can go without it. A channel doing real money has already been asked for it.

What does a streamer or a network require before it licenses my channel?

Media liability, at a limit they set, with a retroactive date that reaches back to when the content was made — because the claim will come from an episode that already exists. Tubi asks for five million dollars of media liability before it takes a channel. Others specify their own numbers, and larger deals add general liability and ask to be named as an additional insured. The annual social media policy an online carrier sells does not satisfy any of it; it was not written for delivery to a distributor. Send us the insurance clause from the agreement before you sign it and we will tell you what it costs to meet it.

Media liability, limits and the retroactive date

Does YouTube provide any insurance to creators?

No. The Partner Program is a revenue share, not a policy. YouTube does not insure your gear, does not defend you when someone in a video sues, does not reimburse a hijacked account and does not replace income lost to a strike or a demonetisation decision. Everything that protects the business is bought by the business.

I was told nobody writes this. Why, and what should they have said?

Because a monetised channel does not fit the online form. Take a real one: a real-estate video company with a channel doing two million a year, two drones, shoots on three continents, a couple of editors and a streamer interested in the catalogue. The online carrier sold it general liability plus business property, and the property policy covered the gear at the office. Six agents then said they do not write it, because it is not a restaurant. What it actually is, is a small production company — and a production company is insured every day: gear on an equipment policy that travels, general liability rated on payroll, unmanned aircraft liability for the drones, a worldwide territory for the trips, a ghost or real workers compensation policy depending on the editors, and media liability at the limit the streamer names. None of that is exotic. It is just not on the drop-down.

How a production company is insured

Which insurance companies actually write a channel?

The ones that write film and television, because that is what a monetised channel is to an underwriter. Our entertainment book sits with Zurich, through ISC Entertainment (formerly Abacus), with Philadelphia Insurance Companies, with Take1 and with Alive Risk — the markets whose forms already understand equipment that travels, rented gear, drones, foreign shoots and media liability at the limits a streamer names. Which one quotes yours depends on the shape of the channel: a solo creator with a kit and a drone is a different submission from a company with editors, a catalogue and a licensing deal on the table. The point of an agent who places with all of them is that you are read by the right one first rather than declined by the wrong one twice.

Are my drones covered?

Only if the policy says so. General liability excludes aircraft, and a drone is an aircraft, so a channel that flies has an uninsured aviation exposure until unmanned aircraft liability is written on — and we write the hull too, for the aircraft itself. The exposure is larger than most operators think: a drone coming down on a person or a car is an aviation claim, not a dropped camera. Where you fly matters as well, so tell us if any of the flying is abroad.

How drones are insured and what the aviation exclusion does

I shoot in other countries. Am I covered there?

Your gear can be, on an equipment policy with a worldwide territory, and it should be — a camera stolen in Lisbon is the same loss as one stolen in Los Angeles. Liability is the harder half. A US general liability policy typically covers suits brought in the United States for something that happened abroad, which is not the same as covering a claim brought in the country it happened in, and some countries need their own arrangement. Tell us where you actually go, including the trips you are planning, so the territory is written rather than assumed.

How much insurance does a YouTuber need?

What the contracts say, plus what the gear is worth. A million per occurrence of general liability is the number every location, venue and brand starts from. The equipment limit is the replacement value of everything in the kit, including what you rent. The media liability limit is set by the biggest deal you have or want — modest with no licensing, and whatever the streamer names when there is one. Drones, worldwide travel and a first employee each add a policy or an endorsement rather than a bigger number.

How do YouTubers get health insurance?

As a self-employed person on the marketplace, through a spouse’s plan, or — once the channel has an employee besides you — on a small group plan, which is usually the better coverage per dollar and is deductible to the company. Two people is enough for a group. It is a separate conversation from the business policies on this page, and we can have both.

Group health for a small company

What does YouTuber insurance cost?

It depends on four things and views are not one of them. General liability is priced on payroll, or on your annual production costs, the way any production company is. Equipment is priced on the value of the kit. A drone, foreign shoots and merch each add a piece. Media liability is priced on the limit the deals require, and a five-million-dollar limit for a streamer is a different policy from a modest one for a channel with none. A small channel with a modest kit is inexpensive to insure; a company doing real money with drones and a licensing deal is a proper commercial account, and still a fraction of what one uninsured claim costs.