Best Ad Agency Business Insurance

The Hartford earned our top spot as the best business insurance for advertising agencies with a MoneyGeek score of 4.78. It ranks first for affordability, customer service and coverage options, making it an excellent choice for protecting your agency. You'll also want to compare quotes from NEXT Insurance, Coverdash, Progressive Commercial and Simply Business for your advertising firm.

Note: We based all scores on an ad-agency business with two employees across professional liability, general liability, workers' comp and BOP policies.

We found that Nationwide has the most affordable business insurance for your advertising agency at $29 monthly ($346 annually). It's cheapest for professional liability and second-cheapest for BOP and general liability, making it the most cost-effective option for your ad agency. If you need workers' compensation coverage, NEXT and The Hartford offer more competitive monthly rates for your advertising firm at $7 and $8 per employee, respectively.

In general, ad agency business insurance costs are the following for the four most popular coverage types:

• General Liability: $36 on average per month, ranging from $31 to $44, depending on the state
• Workers' Comp: $16 on average per month, ranging from $14 to $18, depending on the state
• Professional Liability (E&O): $99 on average per month, ranging from $85 to $127, depending on the state
• BOP Insurance: $41 on average per month, ranging from $36 to $48, depending on the state

Your advertising agency needs workers' compensation if you have employees, and you'll want professional liability insurance to protect against client lawsuits. General liability, cyber insurance and a business owner's policy round out the essential coverages, with commercial auto required only if you own vehicles.

• Workers' Compensation Insurance: You need workers' comp if your ad agency has employees, since nearly every state mandates it. This coverage protects your team from work-related injuries like carpal tunnel from design work or accidents during client visits, paying medical bills and replacing lost wages while shielding you from lawsuits. Most agencies carry coverage that matches their state's requirements based on payroll size.
• Professional Liability Insurance (E&O): Your agency faces constant risk of client lawsuits over missed deadlines, copyright infringement in creative work or campaigns that don't deliver promised results. Professional liability insurance covers legal defense costs, settlements and judgments when clients claim your work caused financial harm. Most advertising firms carry $1 million per claim and $1 million total coverage limits, though larger clients often require $2 to $10 million in coverage.
• General Liability Insurance: This protects your advertising firm when clients or visitors get injured at your office or you damage client property during meetings. General liability covers medical bills, legal fees and property damage claims from third parties, and most commercial leases require this coverage. Standard limits are $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate.
• Business Owner's Policy (BOP): A BOP bundles general liability, commercial property and business interruption insurance at a lower cost than buying them separately. It protects your agency's office space, computers and equipment from fire or theft, covers client injuries and property damage, and replaces lost income if you temporarily close due to covered events. Typical coverage includes $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate for liability, property limits based on your asset values, and business interruption coverage for three to six months of operating expenses.
• Cyber Liability Insurance: Your ad agency handles sensitive client data, campaign strategies and creative assets, making cyber insurance critical. It pays for data breach costs including client notification, legal fees, credit monitoring and regulatory fines. Most agencies start with $1 million in coverage, though you'll need more if you handle extensive client databases.
• Commercial Auto Insurance: If your agency owns vehicles for client meetings or photo shoots, commercial auto insurance is required by law and covers property damage and medical costs from accidents. Personal auto policies won't cover business use. You'll need to meet your state's minimum requirements at a minimum, with higher limits based on your vehicle values.

Our guide on how to get business insurance for your advertising firm help you find the best and cheapest coverage available.

Your advertising agency needs multiple coverage types to stay protected, including professional liability, general liability, workers' compensation and cyber insurance. The Hartford leads our rankings with a 4.78 score, excelling in affordability, customer service and coverage. For budget-conscious agencies, Nationwide offers workers' comp starting at just $18 monthly, making comprehensive protection accessible for your firm.

We answer frequently asked questions about ad agency business insurance:

We selected the best business insurer for ad-agency companies based on the following criteria:

• Affordability (50% of score): The lower a company's costs compared to the competition based on our base profile for four core coverage types, the better the company performs.
• Customer service (30% of score): We scored providers on overall customer satisfaction using industry studies, customer review forum ratings and public forum sentiment analysis from sites like Reddit.
• Coverage (15% of score): We scored business insurance providers for this category based on the flexibility, payment and actual coverage options.
• Financial stability (5% of score): Using financial stability industry ratings from companies like AM Best and Moody's, we created an overall rating to judge how likely companies are to pay out claims compared to the competition.

All pricing in this article is based on the following base profile to represent the vast majority of small businesses in all states:

• Three-person business with two employees
• Coverage: $1 million per occurrence and $2 million total per year for all but BOP, which includes the same coverage plus $5,000 of business property coverage
• $150,000 in payroll
• $300,000 annual revenue