Those who knows do it live?
The Wonderful World of Lives and Insurance for Broadcasting.
Hello!
We've come to another #MondayBlog and it's wonderful to have you here, and to be able to share a little more of our knowledge with you, dear reader!
Today we are going to talk about a very specific type of audiovisual production, broadcasting.
In audiovisual production insurance it is not possible to only insure movies, series and TV commercials, as some people think.
This product is very complete and considers the most diverse situations concerning the production branch. It is possible to cover, for example, a photo shoot, a video clip and even a podcast. And within the broadcasting classification, better known here in our Tupinikim land as AO VIVO, modern internet Lives are included.
Which turned into a real fever during the pandemic, right?
Broadcasting history and its evolution to LIVEs
When we talk about broadcasting, we are actually talking about all kinds of LIVE transmissions, this includes that football match, the newspaper on a TV network, a radio show and even that LIVE on Instagram, or on any social network such as Youtube, Twich and so many others.
The first time a live program took place was on the Isle of Wight in 1895 on a temporary station created by Guglielmo Marconi. And it was a radio broadcast. Did you already know about this?
By the 50's most American, European and Japanese households had a radio in their homes and this meant the wide expansion of this means of communication and various live broadcasts.
After the radio came our dear TV, but not all of your television broadcasts are live programming. In fact, most of what is broadcast on your TV is recorded and edited in advance. Within the real live broadcasting category, we have newspapers, sports games, such as the World Cups, and the Olympics. And some talk shows. Who here remembers the Sundays with the live broadcast of Sai de Baixo?
And today, we're living in the LIVES era, in large part due to the pandemic that left us at home for months, and we've ended up witnessing a reinventing of live streaming through a new medium, the Internet.
What used to be done only through radio waves, started to be done through data on the internet.
The Pandemic and the Explosion of LIVES
The pandemic was a very complicated period, and when the #stayhome was introduced, many people felt lost. Social isolation was very difficult, and painful for most people.
For worldwide health safety reasons, we couldn't go to the office, so we learned to work from home, and live in the home office environment.
We couldn't visit our relatives, so we learned to use whatsapp, skype, zoom and so many other apps to connect with our loved ones, through the internet, using our cameras to soften a little bit of homesickness.
And finally, no restaurants and shows, nor movies. So, companies like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ have brought a veritable arsenal of entertainment to our homes. Streaming has become one of the greatest tools to pass the time and kill boredom.
However, another really cool thing happened in the meantime.
Do you know what? The LIVES of social networks were born.
It is hard today to imagine a world without a Live happening, isn't it?
Artists who could not do their shows in the usual way, started to perform their shows on the internet. Some for free, others charging tickets and helping NGOs.
But everyone showed up, all over the world, and helped to warm up this cold period in our history a little.
And today, when we seem to be getting out of this difficulty, one thing that is definitely here to stay is the LIVES, my dear reader. We're sure they won't disappear, just like the home office.
Our realities were irrevocably changed and everything that turned out to be positive during the pandemic must remain for sure!
When an Event becomes an Audiovisual
An interesting fact about Lives, for us in the insurance market, was a paradigm shift when taking out insurance.
Many of our clients came to us wanting to insure concerts and other forms of live broadcast, figuring they needed to take out event insurance.
After all, it's a show, so it's an event.
In fact, it doesn't work that way. As it is a transmission, even if it is a show, a conversation, a course, whatever, because it is a transmission, the risk changes from event to the house of audiovisuals.
But in addition to this change in product classification, the insured is not harmed. Quite the contrary, when contracting the right insurance, several typical audiovisual problems are properly covered, and join the needs of an event. In the end, you are even more protected.
How does audiovisual coverage work on a LIVE?
The coverage of the type of audiovisual production called broadcasting offers exactly all the coverage present and necessary for any production. This means, in practice, that it is possible to hire civil liability coverage, cover all equipment used for transmission, including musical instruments if the transmission is a musical show.
It is possible to hire PA coverage for technicians and artists who will work during the LIVE and even Cancellation coverage is offered.
CAN LIVES be cancelled? Yes sir! Let Zezé di Camargo and Luciano tell you so. Their LIVE was canceled at the last minute because they were sick with COVID and could transmit the virus to the production staff.
But what is really cool, in terms of coverage, is that because the classification is broadcasting, the product is expanded to meet the needs of this type of medium, and the insured is now able to contract coverage for loss and/or fall signal, within the support coverage.
Or even, in Civil Liability coverage, there is an expansion of coverage in case an error occurs during the transmission, which results in a legal process.
In fact, when we talk about live broadcasts and also lives (from social networks), the insured faces the same risks as any audiovisual production with respect to damage to equipment, or financial losses related to downtime due to loss of sign, for example.
A fire can destroy an antenna and interrupt its transmission. The internet operator may have a signal drop.
Someone can watch your live and sue you for copyright infringement, or you can inadvertently include personal information about a person and be sued for an invasion of privacy.
All these situations are subject to coverage in audiovisual production insurance, and should be contracted, because honestly, within the branches of productions, the one that can be most dangerous for a producer's pocket and peace is something broadcast live.
Try explaining to a sponsor that the signal went down right at the time of their brand's commercial and that you couldn't do the live merchandising? There's no way to redo anything if the show is live, right? Yeah, headache and financial loss for sure.
Some examples of claims
Who doesn't remember what happened to country singer Gustavo Lima, who had his live taken off the air, for breaking CONAR's rules.
The singer, sponsored by an alcoholic beverage brand, made the entire broadcast consuming the alcoholic product with the label and everything else, and, to top it off, he was clearly intoxicated.
According to CONAR and its regulations, this type of advertising is explicitly prohibited, as it can encourage the uncontrolled use of alcohol and even more so on a platform where it is not possible to control who watched the show, and countless minors could participate.
This case is a classic example of Civil Liability, entering the E&O business itself.
With ten minutes of delay and technical problems, Marília Mendonça's Live started badly, with the singer's image literally stuck, but then the image and sound synchronized, and the transmission continued without any major problems. Because of this problem in her first live, the artist stated in a note that her next LIVE will have eight technicians on site to prevent the problem from recurring.
Another LIVE that was marked by technical problems was that of Wesley Safadão, in which the audience revolted with the quality of the audio.
Both examples with Marília and Wesley, could activate the support coverage with additional loss/drop of signal, because it is a technical problem of transmission.
Yeah, dear reader,those who knows, do it live! But do it with the right insurance, duly contracted, so that at the end of your transmission, all that remains are good memories, many likes and joys!
We're waiting for you for the next #MondayBlog.
Have a great week, lovers!
Prospecto Seguros
Learn more:
Audiovisual Production
Errors and Omissions
Equipments
Life and Personal Accidents
Drones