Who We Insure

Insurance for AdTech Companies

An adtech company operates the plumbing that moves ads and audience data across a vast, automated, real-time supply chain — demand and supply platforms, exchanges, audience segments, and tracking and attribution. The distinctive risks live in that automation and that data. Privacy and data-scraping class actions over tracking and audience building, ad fraud that inflates what clients pay for, brand-safety failures that place ads beside objectionable content, and programmatic errors that overspend budgets in seconds all scale at machine speed, and across many parties who never signed a direct contract with the company.

Why adtech companies carry specialized insurance

Insurance requirements arrive from agencies, publishers, brands, and data partners whose own compliance depends on the platform. Contracts demand Tech E&O and cyber floors, additional-insured status, and privacy and security representations before granting access to inventory, audiences, or tracking. Media and intellectual-property warranties are common as well, because creative and audience data flow through the platform, and the privacy-litigation environment makes counterparties specific about consent and data-sourcing. A OnePark Risk advisor structures an adtech program around the platform's role in the chain — buy-side, sell-side, data and identity, or measurement — and how it collects and uses consumer data, because privacy litigation and media and intellectual-property exposure dominate this vertical in ways that generic SaaS forms tend to underplay.

The risk profile of an adtech company

Adtech risk is defined by automation and data at scale: the platform acts on consumer information and moves creative in real time across many parties, so exposure compounds faster than in most software categories. Key exposures: Privacy and data-scraping class actions over tracking, audience building, and identity resolution; Ad fraud and invalid traffic that inflate client spend and trigger makegood or refund demands; Brand-safety failures that place ads beside objectionable content and harm a client's reputation; Programmatic and bidding errors that overspend budgets or misdeliver campaigns; Media and intellectual-property exposure from creative and audience data flowing through the platform; Breach of consumer, audience, and identity data across the supply chain; Contract liability and indemnification to agencies, publishers, and data partners.

Technology E&O + Cyber, with media and advertising injury for adtech companies

The centerpiece for adtech, and the media and privacy terms matter as much as the core coverage. Tech E&O responds when the platform fails and a client claims financial harm — misdelivered spend, undetected fraud, a brand-safety failure — while the cyber and privacy side funds breach response and third-party liability, and the media terms address intellectual-property and defamation claims from creative and audience data moving through the product. Buying these together on one form is essential because a privacy incident, a service failure, and a media claim can arise from a single event. Typically responds to: client claims for financial loss from misdelivery, ad fraud, or brand-safety failures; privacy liability and defense for tracking and data-sourcing claims, within the form's terms; breach response across consumer, audience, and identity data; media and advertising-injury claims from creative flowing through the platform.

Directors & Officers (D&O) for adtech companies

D&O protects founders' and directors' personal assets against claims from investors, creditors, and regulators, and most institutional term sheets require it at closing. Given the privacy-litigation environment around adtech, the regulatory-investigation terms deserve a close read.

General Liability & Property (BOP) for adtech companies

The layer that landlords and enterprise procurement checklists require: premises liability and the company's own equipment, usually bundled favorably for a software office. Inexpensive relative to the contracting friction it removes.

Employment Practices Liability (EPLI) for adtech companies

Discrimination, harassment, wrongful-termination, and wage-and-hour claims cost money to defend even when unfounded, and exposure grows with headcount. EPLI funds that defense and is commonly bundled with D&O in a management-liability package.

Crime / Employee Dishonesty for adtech companies

Insider misuse of audience data or company funds is a real exposure, and social-engineering schemes target software companies with finance teams and large ad budgets flowing through them. Crime coverage responds to employee theft and, with the right endorsements, funds-transfer fraud where the cyber sublimit stops.

Workers' Compensation for adtech companies

Legally required in the states where the company employs anyone, including single remote hires. Multi-state teams should confirm coverage tracks every state where employees actually sit.

Contract and certificate requirements

Agencies, publishers, brands, and data partners drive the requirements: Tech E&O and cyber at stated limits, commonly $1 million to $5 million; additional-insured status; privacy and security representations; media and intellectual-property warranties; and breach-notification terms before the platform is granted access to inventory, audiences, or tracking. The privacy-litigation environment makes counterparties specific about consent and data-sourcing, and carriers scrutinize the same details closely. These obligations reach well beyond a generic startup policy, particularly the privacy, media, and regulatory triggers that adtech contracts assume. A OnePark Risk advisor reads the agency, publisher, and data-partner agreements against the current program so the policy's privacy, media, and regulatory coverage line up with the warranties the company has given — before a counterparty's legal team or a class action tests them.

What coverage costs

As of 2026, adtech pricing turns on data-sourcing and consent practices, the tracking and identity methods the platform uses, its exposure to privacy litigation, its media and intellectual-property posture, and security. Carriers underwrite how consumer data is collected and whether consent is documented, because privacy class actions are the defining severity risk in this vertical, and some are adding privacy-specific sublimits or exclusions that make form comparison essential. Controls move terms directly: documented consent and data-sourcing practices, multi-factor authentication, tested incident response, and clear brand-safety and fraud-filtering processes are what underwriters ask about first. For scale on why they press, IBM's Cost of a Data Breach Report 2026 put the global average cost of a breach at $4.99 million, and cyber has ranked consistently among the top business risks in the Allianz Risk Barometer — a trend that shows up in how conservatively adtech data risk is underwritten. Rather than quoting a single figure, a OnePark Risk advisor benchmarks the specific adtech company across the carriers comfortable with privacy and media exposure and shows how limits, deductibles, and privacy sublimits move the premium so the tradeoffs are visible before renewal.

AI exposure note

If the platform uses AI for bidding, audience modeling, creative generation, or fraud detection, disclose it and review how the Tech E&O, privacy, and media terms respond. The exposures are specific: biased or discriminatory targeting, generated creative that infringes intellectual property or defames, and model error in optimization that misdelivers spend. Carriers are adding both AI-specific exclusions and AI-specific affirmative coverage, so reconciling how your form treats algorithmic error is now a standard part of an adtech coverage review.

Illustrative example: The tracking class action

A group of consumers alleges the platform's tracking technology collected and shared their data without proper consent. The suit names the adtech company alongside several of its clients, seeking damages across a large class. The privacy side of the combined form defends the platform and responds to the third-party liability within its terms, while technology E&O addresses the clients' related claims. How the form treats consent and data-sourcing allegations — and any privacy sublimit or exclusion — is exactly what is reviewed at placement, since this is the defining exposure in the vertical.

Illustrative example: The invalid-traffic bill

A bot network inflates impressions on a campaign, and a brand later discovers it paid for traffic that was never human. It demands refunds and makegoods and alleges the platform failed to filter the fraud it promised to catch. Technology E&O assigns counsel and funds the response to the brand's financial-loss claim; how the form treats fraud-filtering representations determines the outcome, which is why the platform's detection processes are documented and discussed at placement.

Illustrative example: The brand-safety failure

Automated placement runs a national brand's ad against extremist content. The brand claims reputational harm, pulls its spend, and demands compensation, alleging the platform's brand-safety controls failed. Technology E&O and the media terms respond to the brand's claim and fund defense; the interplay between service-failure and media coverage is precisely why an adtech program is built on a combined form rather than assembled from separate policies.

How much does insurance cost for an adtech company?

There is no flat rate. As of 2026, pricing turns on data-sourcing and consent practices, tracking and identity methods, exposure to privacy litigation, media and intellectual-property posture, security controls, revenue, and the limits counterparties require. Many adtech companies structure Tech E&O and cyber at $1 million to $5 million driven by agency and publisher contracts; the right way to size premium is to benchmark the specific company across several carriers rather than rely on a single quoted number.

Does insurance cover privacy or data-scraping class actions?

The privacy side of a technology E&O and cyber form is what responds to privacy and tracking claims, subject to its terms — and this is the area where forms differ most, with some carriers adding privacy-specific sublimits or exclusions. Because privacy class actions are the defining severity risk for adtech, comparing how each form treats consent and data-sourcing allegations is central to a coverage review, and documented consent practices influence both coverage and pricing.

What do agencies and publishers require in contracts?

Typically Tech E&O and cyber at stated limits, additional-insured status, privacy and security representations, media and intellectual-property warranties, and breach-notification terms before granting access to inventory, audiences, or tracking. The contract is the checklist — bring it to your advisor before signing so the policy's privacy, media, and regulatory triggers match what you have promised.

Are we covered for ad fraud or invalid-traffic disputes?

Technology E&O responds to a client's claim that the platform failed to deliver what it promised — including failures to filter fraudulent or invalid traffic — subject to the form's terms and any representations about detection. Documenting your fraud-filtering processes is part of both underwriting and defending such a claim.

Do we need media or advertising-injury coverage?

Yes. Creative and audience data flowing through the platform raise intellectual-property and defamation exposure, and adtech programs should be built on a form that includes media and advertising-injury coverage. The terms vary meaningfully, so reviewing how your form treats these claims is a core part of an adtech coverage review.

Will AI in bidding or creative affect underwriting?

Increasingly, yes. Carriers ask how AI is used for bidding, audience modeling, and creative generation, what human review exists, and how models are monitored — the exposures include biased targeting, generated creative that infringes or defames, and optimization error. Answer accurately, since misdescribing AI usage surfaces in claim disputes, and confirm with your advisor how the form responds.

Can OnePark Risk align our program with our data-partner agreements?

Yes. We compare the agency, publisher, and data-partner agreements against your current policies and flag every mismatch in privacy, media, and regulatory triggers, limits, and privacy sublimits before a counterparty's legal team or a class action tests them.

Frequently asked questions