Specialist insurer Beazley has announced the launch of a contingency policy designed to cover event organisers if a transmission failure disrupts or cancels a virtual event.

With social distancing rules in place to stem the spread of COVID-19, many organisations have moved scheduled events online. Beazley’s new virtual events transmission policy covers organisers whose success relies on technology platforms delivering uninterrupted transmissions to their audiences. If an event is cancelled due to a transmission failure, the policy covers first-party losses including organisational costs, expenses, or gross revenue from advertising and ticket sales. The coverage is available on a global basis and offers limits of up to $10 million, 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,” said Mark Symons, contingency underwriter at Beazley. “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.”