Do you own a small media-based business?Do you currently have sufficient legal and liability coverage to protect your business from financial ruin?
Suppose you own or have recently started a small media-based company. In that case, knowing how media liability insurance can protect your business in unique and vital ways before purchasing a policy most applicable to your specific requirements is essential.
For any small, online, or digital business, media liability insurance is a crucial aspect to account for. Effective media liability insurance protects any small media-based business by providing legal and financial coverage from third-party disputes or claims.
While not all small businesses require pricey media liability insurance, it is indispensable for companies operating within online or digital media content creation, such as books, photography, music, and various forms of web content. This article will thoroughly detail the various unseen and unique ways media liability insurance will protect your small business from unnecessary financial ruin.
Understanding Media Liability Insurance: How Can It Protect Small Businesses?
Purchasing an appropriate media liability insurance policy is one of the most influential aspects of successfully protecting and running most small businesses.
Small businesses that lack sufficient media liability insurance protection expose themselves to unnecessary forms of risk, which could result in immediate or long-term financial devastation. Suppose your small media-based business makes a simple mistake, causing direct or indirect financial harm to a specific client. In that case, they are entitled to sue your company for millions of dollars as the law favors them.
While being sued may seem like a stretch for most small media businesses, financially devastating errors can easily occur and go unnoticed by even the most astute business owners. Tiny mistakes, such as forgetting to mention your sponsor during production, can immediately result in your company being taken to court for allegations of breach of contract.
Suppose your small business is taken to court. In that case, the potential for financial ruin is significantly increased since you are legally entitled to pay for any court-ordered damages and the costs of the opposing legal team. However, by purchasing a sufficient media liability insurance policy, you instantly protect your company from financial ruin, employee devastation, and even closure.
Numerous high-quality media liability insurance policies are currently available to all small businesses. Media liability insurance will protect your company from costly work oversights and mistakes. In addition, it avoids your company from experiencing financial ruin when missing a deadline and multiple forms of adverse legal advertising injuries.
Below are 3 ways on how media liability insurance can protect your small media-based company from any forms of risk.
1. Protects Business from Work Oversights and Mistakes
Most successful small business owners agree that sufficient media liability insurance is essential as it protects them from various costly work oversights and mistakes. It is incredibly easy for you or an employee to make a small yet costly mistake while conducting daily business operations. (Related article: 9 Vital Digital Asset Management Best Practices to Prevent Loss)
In the media industry, making mistakes, such as failing to sufficiently mention your sponsor during various forms of production, is far easier than in most other competitive markets.
While the failure to appropriately mention a sponsor’s name during recording sessions may be a genuine mistake, with no malicious intentions, your business remains exposed to immediate and significant financial ruin if sued. Removing all big or small mistakes from small media businesses is impossible, demonstrating the importance of sufficient media liability insurance.
Moreover, different types of media productions are open to interpretation since the outcome can be viewed alternatively by the involved parties. Occasionally, a client can be dissatisfied with the amount of air time or screen time you gave them during the final product released to the public.
If your client can prove that your work was negligent or didn’t entirely meet certain prerequisites, they are legally entitled to sue you for enormous sums of money. Even if you fully met the client’s list of requirements and were not negligent in any notable way, the ensuing legal battle could result in your company being financially devastated before the judge’s decision is heard.
If a client fairly or unfairly sues you, an appropriate media liability insurance policy will prevent your company from being forced to file for bankruptcy, as it fully covers your associated legal fees despite you not being at fault.
2. Protects Business from any Missed Deadline
One of the major problems small media-based businesses are faced with is missing a pre-determined deadline. Even if the reasons for missing a deadline are valid, your client can immediately sue you.
Small and large media companies constantly face missing deadlines for various reasons, such as recording delays, financial constraints, employee absenteeism, or production challenges.
However, in the eyes of the law, your client is legally entitled to take you to court for enormous damages since the missed deadline likely resulted in them losing capital. Despite any valid reasons you may have for missing an agreed-upon deadline, your client can immediately devastate your company financially if they are successful with their legal application.
However, if you purchased and maintained a media liability insurance policy, the severity of the implications associated with missing deadlines is significantly diminished. Suppose you are taken to court for missing a deadline for whatever reason. In that case, your media liability insurance will provide sufficient coverage for attorney fees, court-ordered settlements, and severe financial and legal judgments.
3. Protects Business from Costly Advertising Injuries
The likelihood of your small media-based business being sued for various forms of advertising injury is staggeringly high due to the incredibly wide scope of the applicable laws.
Many small companies neglect to purchase and maintain sufficient media liability insurance in favor of cheaper general liability policies. However, it is crucial to note that general liability policies do not provide any coverage for advertising injuries, which will induce severe financial harm to your small media business.
Despite many small business owners viewing media liability insurance as an unnecessary cost, it is their only protection against being sued for massive sums of money due to supposed advertising injuries. In addition, advertising injuries have a notoriously wide legal scope, meaning the likelihood of a small media-based business being sued for breach of contract is considerable.
Moreover, advertising injury coverage and general liability policies do not provide any form of coverage for advertising injuries, demonstrating the indisputable importance of purchasing an appropriate media liability insurance policy.
While most small business owners do not intentionally induce advertising injuries upon their clients, they can be sued for minor plagiarism, intellectual property transgressions, invasion of privacy, and incorrectly publishing certain private information.
In addition, libel and slander fall under the legal defamation umbrella, likely causing instant, unnecessary, and permanent financial ruin. One of the most vital and unique ways media liability insurance protects small businesses is by preventing them from experiencing severe financial losses due to mistaken advertising injuries.
Final Thoughts
Purchasing and maintaining sufficient media liability insurance for your small business is one of the most crucial aspects for you to consider.
If you are brought to court for breach of contract, you will likely face financial ruin. However, media liability insurance protects you from advertising injuries, missing deadlines, defamation, and costly work mistakes.