FCA authorised · FRN 724952 0117 325 0027Quote & buy →
Marketing and media
Yes. A media agency commits clients’ budgets on their behalf, and when a plan is wrong, a booking is missed or a programmatic campaign serves to the wrong audience, the client’s loss can be many times your fee. Professional indemnity insurance usually covers your liability for those errors and the cost of defending the allegation. It does not cover a client that fails to pay for media you bought, or client money that goes missing. Those risks need separate cover.
Part of: Professional indemnity for marketing consultants
In short
Media agencies plan, buy and optimise media for advertisers, often committing large sums in their own name. Most PI claims allege a planning or buying error: a missed or mis-scheduled placement, a programmatic setting that wasted budget or broke a targeting rule, or reporting that overstated delivery. Since 5 January 2026 paid online ads for identifiable less healthy food and drink have been banned, and TV ads for them are kept out of 5.30am to 9pm. CAP rules and guidance keep alcohol, gambling and HFSS ads away from media where under-age audiences are likely to exceed 25%. PI usually responds to negligence; unpaid media invoices and missing client money need other cover.
Last reviewed 5 October 2026 by the Apex professional indemnity team.
Public liability covers injury and property damage, such as a visitor falling on your office stairs. A media agency rarely hurts anyone or breaks anything. Its exposure is the money it moves.
That is what makes media different from most marketing services. Your fee may be a small percentage of the budget you manage, but a mistake in planning, buying, trafficking or optimisation is measured against the client’s spend and lost sales, not your fee. When a client says you booked the wrong audience, missed a launch window or let a campaign run outside the agreed settings, it is alleging professional negligence. Professional indemnity (PI) insurance is usually the policy that pays for that kind of loss when you are legally liable for it, along with the legal and expert fees of fighting the claim.
Make sure the policy describes what you actually do. “Advertising agency” may not obviously include programmatic trading, ad operations, audience data work, media auditing or buying as principal. If you trade in-house inventory or run a trading desk, say so on the proposal.
These examples are illustrative only. None is a real claim or a real client, but each reflects how a media buying dispute tends to start.
Each allegation is about whether a competent media agency would have planned, set up or checked the work differently. That is what PI is for.
A claim against a media agency is usually argued against two things: what the contract required, and what the advertising rules required of the placement.
| Source | Requirement | What it means for a claim against you |
|---|---|---|
| ISBA Media Services Framework (2025) | ISBA’s contract template for media strategy, planning and buying. The 2025 version focuses on transparency and addresses agency non-compliance in proprietary media. | Many advertisers start from this template. Its obligations and audit rights shape what a client can later say you promised. |
| CAP Code, rule 1.8 | The Code puts primary responsibility on marketers, but agencies and publishers take on an obligation to comply with it too. | Placement breaches are not only the advertiser’s concern. |
| CAP Code, rules 18.15, 16.3.13 and 15.20 | Alcohol, gambling and HFSS ads must not be directed at under-18s (under-16s for HFSS) through the selection of media or context. For alcohol and HFSS, no medium should be used if more than 25% of its audience is under age. | Media selection is your job, so these are the rules a placement complaint turns on. |
| Communications Act 2003, s.368Z14 | From 5 January 2026, a person must not pay for ads for an identifiable less healthy food or drink product to be placed on the internet. “Paying” includes any consideration, “placed” includes continuing to be placed, and food or drink SMEs are exempt. | Always-on and programmatic lines are caught, and the SME exemption turns on facts about the client you need to check. |
| Less healthy food rules for TV (ASA guidance) | Ofcom-licensed TV services must not include advertising or sponsorship for identifiable less healthy products between 5.30am and 9pm. | TV schedules for food and drink brands need checking line by line. |
| BCAP Code, rules 32.1 and 32.2 | Broadcasters must exercise responsible judgement on scheduling, and alcohol and gambling ads may not appear in or next to programmes likely to appeal particularly to under-18s. | Broadcasters carry the scheduling duty, but a client will still ask why your plan put spots there. |
| Usually covered by PI | Often excluded or limited | Needs a different policy |
|---|---|---|
| Client claims for loss caused by a negligent plan, booking, schedule or trafficking error | Disputes over rebates, volume bonuses, margins or other transparency terms | Non-payment by a client for media you committed to in your own name (trade credit) |
| Programmatic and targeting set-up errors that waste budget or breach agreed settings | Promised delivery or performance targets that go beyond reasonable skill and care | An employee stealing client funds (crime or fidelity cover) |
| Negligent reporting or measurement that led a client to spend more | Losses on inventory you bought as principal and could not sell on | Fake supplier bank details or payment diversion fraud (crime cover, depending on the wording) |
| Breach of confidence, for example disclosing a client’s spend levels or plans | Fines and penalties, and claims for return of your own fees | A breach of the audience data you hold, or a hijacked ad account (cyber) |
| Defence costs, including expert evidence on what a competent buyer would have done | Problems you were aware of before cover started | Claims against your directors personally (directors’ and officers’ liability) |
All of this depends on the wording and on the insurer accepting the risk. If the policy excludes “trading losses” or “the cost of media”, ask how it would respond when a client claims back spend that was wasted through your error.
For most marketing businesses, ad regulation is about what an ad says. For a media agency it is about where the ad goes, and that is decided in your plans, audiences and platform settings.
CAP’s guidance on age-restricted ads online draws three conclusions from the media-selection rules:
CAP says marketers must be able to show the ASA that they took appropriate steps, ideally with robust audience measurement data. In practice much of that evidence sits with the agency that planned and bought the campaign. The ASA and CAP say they often find inappropriate targeting caused by oversights by advertisers and their partners.
The online ban covers paid placements, including those arising under sponsorship agreements, and ads that continue to be placed, so an always-on or programmatic line is caught for as long as it keeps serving. The exemption for food or drink SMEs depends on the client’s status, which you should confirm in writing rather than assume.
If a placement complaint is made, tell your insurer early. A ruling against the client is often the first step towards a claim against you.
No regulator sets a PI limit for media agencies. Clients set it, through the services agreement, a procurement framework or a pitch questionnaire. Because a buying error is measured against media spend, size your limit on the biggest monthly budget you manage, not on your fee income.
PI is claims-made: it pays claims first made while the policy is in force. In media, problems often surface late, when an account moves after a pitch and the new agency or a media auditor reviews your buying. That can be long after the campaign ended, so keep cover continuous, and arrange run-off if the agency is sold, merged or closed. See run-off cover explained.
A complete proposal gets better terms than a bare one, and a broker can only present what you tell us. Have these ready:
Speak to a broker
PI for media buying agencies, placed by a named broker
Start the online proposal and save it as you go, or leave your number and a named broker will call you back, usually the same working day.
Apex Insurance Brokers is an independent insurance broker based in Bristol, established in 2009 and authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We are not tied to one insurer: we work with over 30 markets, including Lloyd’s syndicates through wholesale brokers, and every client has a named broker who handles the placement, mid-term changes, certificates for clients and the renewal.
Yes. You spend clients’ budgets on their behalf, and a planning, buying or set-up error can cost them far more than your fee. PI responds to that liability and pays to defend you, within the policy terms. Most advertisers and procurement teams will ask for evidence of PI before they appoint you.
No. No law or regulator requires a media agency to hold PI. In practice clients require it: the services agreement or procurement framework usually sets a minimum limit, and many will ask for a certificate at appointment and at each renewal. It is commonly checked at the pitch stage.
No. If you contracted with media owners in your own name, you may owe them whether or not the client pays you. That is a credit risk, not a professional error, and PI does not respond to it. Trade credit insurance, careful contract terms and prepayment for new clients are the usual answers.
Usually, where the client alleges your negligence caused the loss, such as a lost frequency cap or the wrong geographic setting. Cover is subject to the policy terms, and some wordings restrict claims for the cost of media itself. Keep screenshots of settings at launch so you can show what was set up and when.
The CAP Code holds the advertiser primarily responsible, but agencies take on a duty to comply as well. If the ASA rules against your client, the client may claim its costs from you on the basis that you chose the media or audiences. PI can respond to that claim, subject to the terms.
Usually not. Arguments about rebates, volume bonuses, margins or undisclosed principal trading are contract and fee disputes, and PI wordings commonly exclude them along with claims for return of fees. If the dispute includes an allegation that negligent buying caused the client a loss, that part may be covered, subject to the terms.
Apex arranges professional indemnity insurance for media buying agencies across the UK. Tell us about your work and we’ll find cover that fits. Or call 0117 325 0027.
Start your PI proposal Call 0117 325 0027Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England and Wales, company number 07014570. This page is general information, not advice on your individual circumstances. Cover is always subject to the insurer’s acceptance and the policy terms, and this page does not guarantee that cover will be available or on what terms.
