Section 508 and ADA for Marketing Video

"Section 508 compliant video" in an RFP is not a file format. It is usually three deliverables plus a player: captions, a transcript, and audio description where the picture carries meaning the soundtrack does not, sitting in a player whose caption and description controls are as easy to reach as volume. Teams that ship a burned-in TikTok cut and call the marketing site done have satisfied the feed and missed the procurement.

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act still binds US federal agencies and, by contract, a lot of vendor work those agencies buy. ADA Title II now names a technical standard for state and local government web and mobile content. ADA Title III still covers public accommodations without a matching WCAG web rule. Mixing those three into one "make the hero video accessible" ticket is how gap lists get written after the launch, not before.

What Section 508 still requires of video

The Revised 508 Standards incorporate WCAG 2.0 Level AA for web content, and they add ICT-specific rules that WCAG on its own does not write down for a player.

For synchronized media (sound and picture together):

• WCAG 2.0 Success Criterion 1.2.2: captions for all prerecorded audio in synchronized media.
• SC 1.2.4: captions for live audio in synchronized media.
• SC 1.2.3 / SC 1.2.5: an alternative for time-based media or audio description of prerecorded video; at Level AA, audio description is required.

GSA's 508 guidance is operational about the rest. Auto-captions are not enough: names, speaker changes, non-speech audio, and sync still fail. Open captions (burned in) and closed captions (togglable) can both satisfy 1.2.2; closed captions are what a 508 player is built around. A transcript is not a caption: it is plain text without time codes. You still want it for search, audio-only alternatives, and anyone who cannot use the player.

User controls are their own 508 rule. 503.4 requires controls for closed captions and audio descriptions where ICT displays video with synchronized audio. 503.4.1 puts caption selection at the same menu level as volume or program selection. 503.4.2 does the same for audio description.

B-roll in an edit bin is out of scope. The published file on an agency site, or the file you deliver under a federal contract, is in scope. 508 does not automatically annex a commercial marketing site. It annexes federal ICT, and whatever a contract says the vendor must deliver. If the clause is in the packet, the marketing player is in the same boat.

ADA Title II, Title III, and the marketing-site mix-up

Title II is state and local government. The Department of Justice's April 2024 web and mobile rule sets WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the technical standard for web content and mobile apps that those governments provide or make available, including content a contractor hosts for them. A county parks page built by an agency, a city parking app run by a vendor, a public-university lecture library: in.

The 2024 rule's original compliance dates were extended by an interim final rule published 20 April 2026. Entities with a total population of 50,000 or more now have until 26 April 2027. Public entities under 50,000, and special district governments, have until 26 April 2028. After those dates the standard does not switch off. Limited exceptions exist (true archives, some preexisting documents, some third-party posts). A current campaign video on a city homepage is not an archive. A vendor-run parking app is not a message-board post.

Title III is public accommodations: the commercial library, the brand site, the store. The 2024 WCAG 2.1 AA web rule is a Title II rule. It does not set that standard for Title III. Title III still requires equal access to goods and services. DOJ has brought website cases under that duty, and settlements often use WCAG as the yardstick. That is not a Title III regulation that names WCAG 2.1 AA and a date. If an RFP says "ADA Title III, WCAG 2.1 AA, by April 2027," someone has pasted Title II language onto a commercial site. Ask which statute they mean.

Practical stack: 508 if you sell to the federal government or host ICT for it; Title II WCAG 2.1 AA if you run web or apps for a state or city; Title III equal-access risk on the public marketing site regardless.

What RFPs mean by accessible video

When a procurement packet says "accessible video," unpack it into objects. If the packet only says "508" or "WCAG AA," write the objects back into the response so you are not scored against a surprise.

Object	What it is	What it is not
Captions	Timed text for speech and meaningful non-speech sound, synchronized, with speakers identified when it matters	A raw auto-transcript; subtitles that only translate language and skip sound
Transcript	Searchable, downloadable text of the programme, including those non-speech events	The caption file with the time codes stripped and called done
Audio description	Spoken narration of meaningful visuals, in the gaps between dialogue, as a selectable track or a clearly labelled described version	A second caption file; a voiceover that already says everything on screen
Player	Keyboard-operable controls; CC and AD at the same level as volume (508 503.4); captions that can be turned on	A hero <video> with no track, or CC buried three menus deep
Alternative	Audio-only plus transcript, or video-only plus description, when the media is not synchronized	"Call us if you need an accessible copy" as the only path

Two notes RFPs rarely spell out. Social cuts need burned-in captions because the feed is muted; the site player needs a closed-caption track the user can restyle and switch off. A single burned-in master on an agency page fails 503.4: there is nothing to select. Audio description is a different track. WCAG 2.2 SC 1.2.5 (Level AA) is a spoken track describing actions, characters, scene changes, and on-screen text not already in the soundtrack. Title II's standard is WCAG 2.1 AA, which includes the same 1.2.5. That pass is audio description for brand video, not a caption export.

A gap list for a marketing site

Walk the public site, not the brand guidelines PDF. For each video:

1. No captions. Fail. Generate a track: automatic subtitles get you a first pass; a human still has to correct names, legal lines, and non-speech labels. The same gap on social is a reach problem as well as a legal one; social video accessibility is that feed-side case.
2. Auto-captions only, never reviewed. Fail under the 508 guidance above. Same fix, plus a QC pass.
3. Burned-in captions on the site player, no closed-caption file. Fail 503.4 on any 508-scoped property. Keep the burn for social; add a VTT/TTML track for the site.
4. Captions that omit speakers or sound. Incomplete against WCAG's caption definition. Add IDs and non-speech labels where they change meaning.
5. No transcript. Fail for audio-only; a gap for video even when captions exist. Get a transcript and publish it next to the player, not in a buried PDF.
6. No audio description, and the picture carries the claim. If the price, the UI, or the before/after is only on screen, 1.2.5 is in play. Write the described version; do not paste the caption file into a voice.
7. Player: no CC control, or CC behind a settings gear while volume is on the bar. Fail 503.4.1. Put CC next to mute.
8. Player: no AD control, and a described version is not linked. Fail 503.4.2 if you are in 508 scope. Link a described file as a minimum.
9. Keyboard trap or unlabelled custom controls. WCAG 2.1.1 / 4.1.2. Tab to play, pause, seek, CC, AD, and fullscreen, and confirm a screen reader can name each control.
10. Autoplay with sound. SC 1.4.2: if audio plays automatically for more than three seconds, provide a mechanism to pause, stop, or control volume independently of the system. Mute-autoplay is the usual marketing fix.
11. Third-party embed that you cannot control. Title II still reaches content you "provide or make available." If the vendor player cannot put CC at the volume row, do not use it on a Title II or 508 property.

Log pass / fail / not applicable per object. Remediate captions and transcripts first. The standard does not care that a model made the pictures. It cares that the published media has captions, a transcript, description when needed, and a player people can actually use.

FAQ

Does a commercial brand site have to meet Section 508?

Not by being a brand. It does if it is federal ICT, or if a federal contract says the vendor's site or the delivered video must meet 508. Many commercial RFPs still write "508" as shorthand for "captions plus an accessible player." Answer the clause that is actually in the packet.

Is the Title II WCAG 2.1 AA date already in force?

For large Title II entities the original April 2026 date was extended. As of the April 2026 interim final rule, the large-entity date is 26 April 2027 and the smaller-entity / special-district date is 26 April 2028. Title II's underlying duty to provide accessible services did not wait for those dates.

Do burned-in social captions satisfy a 508 video player?

They can satisfy the content requirement that captions exist (1.2.2) if they are accurate and synchronized. They cannot satisfy 503.4, because there is no caption control to place next to volume. Keep the burn for the feed; give the site player a closed track.

If the voiceover already describes the product, do we still need audio description?

If every meaningful visual is already in the soundtrack, SC 1.2.5's own exception for that case applies. Most product ads are not that: a price, a UI, a logo sting, a silent before/after. Those still need description, in the gaps, as a selectable track or a labelled alternate file.