WGBH National Center for Accessible Media

What WGBH National Center for Accessible Media does

NCAM (The Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media) is a research, development, and consulting group established in 1991 as an internal center within GBH (WGBH Educational Foundation), the Boston-based public broadcasting station. Its stated mission is to expand access to present and future media for people with disabilities, and it operates as a national leader in making digital media accessible. NCAM provides three principal service lines: training for organizations on accessibility standards, evaluations of digital media assets for accessibility compliance (including ADA compliance), and expert advising engagements. It also publishes free, publicly available tools and resources, most notably CADET (described in source material as the Customizable Audio Description Energy Tool and elsewhere as the Computer Access Disability Evaluation Tool), along with other accessibility evaluation resources.

The underlying technology focus is on accessible media production standards and assistive technology integration rather than a commercial software platform. Core products are service-based (consulting, training, evaluations) plus open tools, and there is no API, SDK, or commercial pricing disclosed. NCAM is not separately incorporated — it is a service division of the WGBH Educational Foundation, a Massachusetts non-profit foundation that operates PBS/NPR affiliates. Revenue mechanics therefore flow through the parent non-profit (membership, corporate sponsorship, directed giving, planned giving, grants) rather than a commercial SaaS or licensing model. Customer segments are described horizontally as organizations across sectors needing accessibility services, with no named customer logos disclosed and no published pricing.

Go-to-market is primarily direct service delivery (enterprise consulting and training) supplemented by organic social media under the GBHAccess brand on Twitter/X, Instagram, and Facebook, and awareness driven through GBH's broader institutional brand. Geographic scope is global in statement but functionally U.S.-anchored from Boston. The 2011 MassChallenge program participation is the only disclosed funding event, with a $0 reported amount.

Name

WGBH National Center for Accessible Media

Legal name

WGBH Educational Foundation

Website

https://ncam.wgbh.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1991

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

NCAM is a non-profit research, development, and consulting center within GBH that helps organizations make digital media accessible to people with disabilities through training, evaluations, expert advising, and free public tools such as CADET.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Accessibility Consulting Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), All Other Schools and Instruction (61169), Other Schools and Instruction (6116)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Special Education & Accessibility-Optimized Media (UDL, AAC, Captioning) (EDAGALAH)

Keywords

• Media accessibility services
• Disability access consulting
• Accessible digital media
• Accessibility training programs
• Assistive technology integration

Headquarters

HQ city

Boston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

NCAM is a research, development and consulting group that provides comprehensive accessibility services—including training, evaluations, and expert advising—to help organizations create inclusive digital media experiences for people with disabilities. It also distributes a suite of free, publicly available tools and resources, including CADET, to support accessibility and inclusion.

Product overview

NCAM is a single unified research, development and consulting group focused on media accessibility. It offers comprehensive accessibility services including training, evaluations, and expert advising, along with a suite of free publicly available tools and resources such as CADET to support accessibility and inclusion for people with disabilities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• NCAM Accessibility Services (Training, Evaluations, and Expert Advising) A research, development, and consulting service that provides organizations with training, accessibility evaluations, and expert advising to help them create inclusive digital media experiences for people with disabilities and meet accessibility standards.
• NCAM Tools & Resources

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• AudioEye: AudioEye sells automated digital accessibility remediation tooling and audits, competing for the same accessibility-compliance budget as NCAM's evaluation and tooling services.
• UserWay: UserWay offers an AI-powered accessibility widget and auditing platform widely deployed by publishers and broadcasters, overlapping NCAM's accessible digital media mandate.
• AccessiBe: AccessiBe provides automated WCAG-compliance tooling for websites, competing for the same organizational accessibility budgets that NCAM serves through its advisory and training work.
• 3Play Media: 3Play Media provides captioning, transcription, audio description, and accessibility services to media and enterprise customers, overlapping NCAM's accessible media production and consulting work.
• Level Access: Level Access is a leading digital accessibility consulting and technology firm offering accessibility audits, training, and enterprise compliance platforms — directly comparable to NCAM's training, evaluation, and expert advising services.
• Benetech / Bookshare: Benetech's Bookshare initiative delivers accessible educational materials and authoring tools for people with print disabilities — directly comparable to NCAM's accessible educational media mission.

Broad incumbents

• American Printing House for the Blind (APH): APH manufactures and distributes accessible educational and daily-living products for the blind, serving a similar disability-accessibility constituency through a different distribution model.
• American Foundation for the Blind (AFB): AFB is a longstanding non-profit providing advocacy, research, and services for people with vision loss, with overlapping mission and audience to NCAM's accessible media work.

Emerging players

• Perkins School for the Blind: Perkins delivers accessible educational services, braille, and assistive technology for the blind community, intersecting NCAM's accessible media expertise with direct disability education services.

Others

• NV Access: NV Access develops the NVDA screen reader, an adjacent assistive technology provider that sits in the same disability-accessibility ecosystem NCAM supports through consulting and standards work.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/GBHAccess
• Facebookfacebook.com/MediaAccessGroup
• Instagraminstagram.com/GBHAccess

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about WGBH National Center for Accessible Media