Streaming live events is not new in itself, however with social distancing rules in place to reduce the spread of COVID-19, many major events have been either cancelled, postponed or moved online.
Beazley’s virtual events transmission policy supports organisers whose success relies on technology platforms providing seamless transmission or broadcast to their audiences. If an event is cancelled due to transmission failure, the policy covers first-party losses including organisational costs, expenses, or gross revenue from advertising and ticket sales.
The cover is available on a global basis and offers limits of up to $10m.
Mark Symons, contingency underwriter at Beazley, said: “For a long time, many events, from business conferences through to music festivals, have had an online element, which has been covered by endorsement to an event insurance policy. However, as a result of the coronavirus we are seeing far more events either being reorganised or created from scratch for purely virtual audiences. Even with lockdown easing, we expect this to continue both in business and leisure as people continue to avoid unnecessary crowds. These events are completely reliant on the technology working and a failure can be financially crippling, which means having robust insurance in place is a must. Beazley’s virtual events transmission policy is designed to provide simple and clear cover tailored for the risks involved with hosting virtual events.”
This standalone policy complements Beazley’s existing portfolio of cover including media & technology liability insurance, which offers protection for providers of technology platforms that are responsible for the online broadcast or streaming of live events.