COMM Museum voor Communicatie

What COMM Museum voor Communicatie does

Beeld & Geluid, operating publicly as the Mediamuseum and the Museum voor Communicatie, is a Dutch national media museum and audiovisual archive that preserves over one million hours of Dutch broadcasting history. Its core assets are the Schatkamer digital collection platform, the on-site Mediamuseum exhibitions in Hilversum, an archive depot accessible via a VR Tour, and a portfolio of educational and cultural products including Digitaal Lesmateriaal, media workshops, and TILT verhalen interactive narratives. The institution serves three distinct audiences: the general public (museum visits, events, location rental), Dutch schools (media-literacy curriculum materials and workshops), and professional media makers, researchers, and broadcasters (archive licensing and Beeld & Geluid Licensing services).

The business model is that of an ANBI-registered public-benefit foundation. Structural revenue is anchored by a direct subsidy from the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (Ministerie van OCW), supplemented by a partnership with the VriendenLoterij, individual donations, and earned income from admissions, workshops, location rental for private events, and B2B licensing of archive content. Distribution is multi-channel: physical (Hilversum museum), digital (Schatkamer, VR Tour), educational (Digitaal Lesmateriaal distributed into Dutch schools), and partner-mediated (e.g., Centrale Bibliotheek Den Haag following the July 2024 closure of the Den Haag museum site). The institution sits within a Dutch cultural-heritage ecosystem that includes public and commercial broadcasters via the Mediajungle network.

Following the July 2024 closure of its Den Haag location, Beeld & Geluid is consolidating operations at the Hilversum headquarters and shifting emphasis toward digital access, educational programming, and partner-mediated distribution. This restructuring indicates operating-cost discipline and a strategic pivot toward scalable, non-physical channels, though it reduces the institution's geographic footprint and concentrates footfall at a single site.

Name

COMM Museum voor Communicatie

Legal name

Beeld & Geluid

Website

https://comm.nl

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Beeld & Geluid is a Dutch ANBI foundation that operates the national Mediamuseum in Hilversum and preserves over one million hours of Dutch audiovisual broadcasting history. It serves the general public, Dutch schools, and professional media users through museum visits, digital collections, educational programs, and archive licensing.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cultural Museum and Audiovisual Archive Services

NAICS

Museums (712110), Libraries and Archives (51921), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (712)

SIC

Magnetic & Optical Recording Media (3695), Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Public Media Archives, Libraries & Content Preservation (MPABADAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Performing Arts & Cultural Event Venues (Theaters, Museums) (THAHAAAG), Audio Learning Content (Podcasts, Audiobooks, Listening Programs) (EDAGALAM)

Keywords

• Media museum services
• Audiovisual archive
• Media education programs
• Collection licensing
• Cultural heritage institution

Headquarters

HQ city

Hilversum

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

COMM Museum voor Communicatie (Beeld & Geluid) operates a Dutch media museum and audiovisual archive, offering the interactive Mediamuseum experience in Hilversum, online access to over one million hours of audiovisual material through the Schatkamer platform, and educational programs including Mediaworkshops and Digitaal Lesmateriaal for all educational levels (PO, VO, MBO, HBO, WO). Supplementary offerings include corporate venue rental, archival space tenancy, and professional collection licensing for media makers, researchers, and documentarians.

Product overview

Beeld & Geluid operates a unified museum experience centered on media and audiovisual heritage. The core offering is the Mediamuseum in Hilversum, supplemented by the Schatkamer online platform for remote collection access. Educational services include Digitaal Lesmateriaal for classroom use and Mediaworkshops for various education levels. The collection platform enables private use requests for over one million hours of audiovisual content. The VR Tour Depot Den Haag provides virtual access to the former depot. All offerings interrelate through the central collection database, serving both general visitors and educational institutions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Mediamuseum: The main museum experience at Beeld & Geluid in Hilversum, marketed as 'Ons Mediamuseum draait om jou!' (Our Mediamuseum is all about you!)
• De Schatkamer
• Digitaal Lesmateriaal
• Mediaworkshops
• TILT verhalen

Products and services

• Mediamuseum (Museum Visit Experience) Interactive museum experience at the Hilversum headquarters focused on media and entertainment, offered to general visitors of all ages through the physical exhibition.
• Schatkamer (Treasure Room Digital Collection Platform) Online platform providing access to part of the audiovisual collection for self-directed exploration by the general public from home.
• Mediaworkshops Interactive media literacy and news awareness workshops delivered to schools and educational institutions across all education levels, at the museum and partner locations including Centrale Bibliotheek Den Haag.
• Digitaal Lesmateriaal (Digital Learning Materials) Curriculum-aligned educational materials searchable by topic, subject, and grade level, designed for classroom use in primary, secondary, vocational, and higher education.
• Collection Requests for Private Use Service enabling individuals to search the audiovisual collection database of over one million hours of material and request downloads for private use.
• VR Tour Depot Den Haag Virtual reality tour of the former depot in Den Haag, offering a digital viewing experience with narration about objects from the collection.
• Locatieverhuur (Venue Rental) Corporate and group venue rental service for events, arrangements, and functions at the Hilversum museum location.
• Professional Collection Licensing Licensing service for media makers, filmmakers, researchers, and professionals seeking archive materials for commercial, documentary, and research purposes.
• Archival Space Rental (Tenancy) Rental of archival storage space for media collections, offered to organizations needing professional archival storage.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Ministerie van Onderwijs Cultuur en Wetenschap (Ministry of Education, Culture and Science)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science is a key institutional partner, providing public funding and recognition as the governing body supporting Beeld & Geluid's national cultural mission.
• VriendenLoterij (Friends Lottery)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe VriendenLoterij (Friends Lottery) is a national charity lottery in the Netherlands that supports cultural institutions including Beeld & Geluid through fundraising and visibility.
• Centrale Bibliotheek Den Haag (Central Library The Hague)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFollowing the closure of the Beeld & Geluid Den Haag location (July 2024), Mediaworkshops for all education levels are now delivered at the Centrale Bibliotheek on Spui, Den Haag, continuing the museum's educational programming in the city.
• ANBI (Algemeen Nut Beogende Instelling)minorOthersBeeld & Geluid holds ANBI status (Public Benefit Institution), a Dutch tax designation for charitable organizations, conferring regulatory and financial benefits.

Scale indicators1 record

Expansion highlights5 records

Regional players

• Tropenmuseum: Amsterdam-based Dutch cultural museum under the same Ministry ecosystem, sharing the publicly funded national museum model with overlapping audiences and educational channels in the Netherlands.

Direct peers

• Eye Filmmuseum: Amsterdam-based Dutch film museum and archive preserving Dutch cinema heritage with a similar museum-plus-archive operating model, sharing the same national cultural-institution positioning.
• The Paley Center for Media: US cultural institution dedicated to broadcast and media history with curated collection access, public programs, and education, comparable in mission though smaller in collection scale.
• Institut National de l'Audiovisuel (INA): France's national audiovisual archive, performing an analogous role for French broadcast heritage; operates as a public institution with both archive stewardship and commercial licensing functions.
• Museum of the Moving Image: New York-based media museum operating interactive exhibitions on film, television, and digital media with strong educational programs, paralleling Beeld & Geluid's Mediamuseum concept.
• Deutsches Filmmuseum / DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum: Frankfurt-based German film museum and archive combining exhibition, collection, and educational programming, mirroring Beeld & Geluid's museum-and-archive integration.

Broad incumbents

• Rijksmuseum: Major Dutch national museum sharing the same ministry funding ecosystem, public-benefit status, and educational mission; provides operational comparison for visitor model and national-institution governance.
• Library of Congress (Motion Picture & Recorded Sound Division): US national audiovisual preservation division within a much larger national library, providing analogous archive-stewardship and public-access functions but at significantly greater scale and as part of a broader mandate.
• BFI National Archive: UK's flagship film and television archive managed within the British Film Institute, a comparable public-benefit cultural institution preserving audiovisual heritage with educational and exhibition programming.

Emerging players

• Sound Archives / Phonogrammarchiv (Austrian Academy of Sciences): Austrian national sound and audiovisual archive with similar preservation and access mandate; functions at smaller scale and narrower scope but operates in the comparable public archive context.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/museum-voor-communicatie

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 COMM Museum voor Communicatie