By studying the television-viewing habits of a number of average Ameri

Question

By studying the television-viewing habits of a number of average American households, a group of media analysts has discovered that people are less likely to switch channels during commercial breaks during rebroadcasts than they are during premieres and new episodes. The analysts have also found, however, that viewers pay substantially less attention to the broadcasts as a whole during rebroadcasts than they do during first-run episodes and premieres.

Which of the following is an inference that can properly be drawn from the passage above?

Which of the following is an inference that can properly be drawn from the passage above?

(A) The success of a commercial may not depend on whether the program during which it is broadcast is a premiere or a rerun.

(B) Commercials that are run during new episodes and premieres are seen in their entirety more often than not.

(C) Advertisers would be wise to run their commercials during rebroadcasts only

(D) There is an implicit trade-off in viewer response to first-run programs and rebroadcasts.

(E) It is not whether the program is old or new, but whether it is interesting or not that influences a viewer’s attention to the commercials shown during the program.

ArunSharma12 · Answer

(A) The success of a commercial may not depend on whether the program during which it is broadcast is a premiere or a rerun.
 as viewers switch channels more often during premiere than during re-run and as they do not pay attention to re-run then these two factors might not affect the success of commercials shown during such broadcasts

(B) Commercials that are run during new episodes and premieres are seen in their entirety more often than not.
 This can not be inferred. viewers switch channels more often but we do not know whether they watch commercials fully

(C) Advertisers would be wise to run their commercials during rebroadcasts only
 It seems so because viewers do not switch channels as often as they do during live broadcasts. However, viewers do not pay attention to rebroadcasts so most likely they will not pay attention to these commercials as well

(D) There is an implicit trade-off in viewer response to first-run programs and rebroadcasts.
 there is no relation mentioned between viewers response between first run programs and rebroadcasts

(E) It is not whether the program is old or new, but whether it is interesting or not that influences a viewer’s attention to the commercials shown during the program.
 viewers attention is out of scope of this passage. 
Ans: A

JK24 · Answer

Can someone explain why the answer is not D?
As people shift less channels during rebroadcasts but at the same time pay less attention. Isnt that the trade off?

rahul5657 · Answer

(A) "The success of a commercial may not depend on whether the program during which it is broadcast is a premiere or a rerun."
 Analysis: 
The passage does not discuss commercial success directly.
The observations only indicate viewing habits, not whether commercials during reruns or new episodes are more effective.
 Incorrect.

(D) "There is an implicit trade-off in viewer response to first-run programs and rebroadcasts."
 Analysis: 
This is well-supported.
The passage shows a trade-off:
New episodes → Higher attention but more channel switching.
Rebroadcasts → Lower attention but fewer channel switches.
This confirms that viewer response is not uniform but involves a trade-off.
Seems  Correct Answer  as it is Best supported by the passage.

RetaketheGMAT · Answer

It's correct to narrow the two answers down to A and D. As is often the case, choosing between the last 2 options is the hard part.

Precise reading helps a lot here:

Why D is wrong: a tradeoff implies one behaviour is a direct counter reaction to another. Nothing in passage says that people paying less attention is a direct counter reaction to less channel switching.

Now about A:
- notice the phrase "may not be" -- that significantly lowers the bar for A to be a proper inference because it makes the statement much less definitive. it's basically saying there is a possibility that a commercial's success maybe unrelated to whether it is run during a premiere or re-run. Absolutely true given that reruns have less channel switching but greater overall attention.

VasundharaS · Answer

But the passage doesn't talk about the success of the commercial. Why is the answer tod D?

A - Passage doesn't talk about success
B - Passage mentions there is switching 
C - Attention is not paid per passage
E - No mention about attention to commercials

SHM95 · Answer

I don't believe A to be the correct answer.

The commercials in the re-run would get more visibility(as the viewers are not changing the channels) and therefore, more visibility will impact the success of the commercial.

I believe C to be the most appropriate response (though ONLY is an extreme word)

By studying the television-viewing habits of a number of average Ameri

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

By studying the television-viewing habits of a number of average Ameri

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards