Generalization: The more viewers a television show attracts

Question

Generalization: The more viewers a television show attracts, the greater the advertising revenue it generates.
Situation: Production costs for Starlight, the VNT network’s most popular weekly show, are very high and rising. The advertising revenue Starlight generates minus the show’s production costs is below average for VNT shows and is declining.
Judgment: VNT’s profits would be better protected by retaining Starlight than by replacing it with a show of average popularity and average production costs.

Which of the following, if true, provides the strongest reason for considering the judgment to be well founded?

A. The average profits of VNT shows have increased in each of the last three years.

B. Shows that occupy time slots immediately before and after a very popular show tend to have far more viewers than they otherwise would.

C. Starlight currently has the highest production costs of all VNT shows.

D. Last year VNT lost money on a weekly show that was substantially similar to Starlight but was broadcast on a different day of the week than Starlight is.

E. Starlight’s high production costs are a direct result of its format and content and cannot be reduced without fundamentally changing the show.

FrozenDragon · Answer

Official Explanation : -

Argument Construction

Situation
The argument presents a Generalization that more viewers equals greater revenue, and the Situation of a specific show, Starlight: it’s the network’s most popular show, but its net profitability (revenue minus costs) is below average and declining due to high and rising production costs.

Reasoning
What additional factor would support the idea that Starlight contributes more to profits than its net profitability would suggest? The Judgment, or conclusion, is that VNT’s profits would be better protected by retaining Starlight than by replacing it with an average show. This judgment seems counterintuitive, as Starlight’s profitability is low and falling. To provide the strongest reason that the judgment is well-founded, we need to find a factor that demonstrates Starlight contributes significantly to VNT’s overall profits in a way that is not captured by looking solely at Starlight’s individual net income. In other words, we need to show that Starlight generates a positive externality (a benefit to other shows) that would be lost if the show were replaced by an average performer.

A. General network data is irrelevant to the specific comparison between keeping Starlight and replacing it with an average show.

B. Correct. This provides the necessary positive externality. If Starlight (VNT’s most popular show) significantly boosts the viewership of the shows surrounding it, then replacing Starlight with an average show would cause a sharp drop in viewership—and thus in advertising revenue—for two or more adjacent shows. This potential massive loss in revenue across the entire prime-time lineup makes the retention of the less profitable Starlight a much better strategy for protecting overall VNT profits.
 
C. This fact merely reinforces the problem stated in the Situation section, explaining why the show’s profitability is low. It does not provide a reason why retaining the show is the better financial decision.

D. This fact merely suggests that a show similar to Starlight failed in a different time slot, which might discourage replacement with a similar show but does not explain the unique, positive value of retaining the current Starlight in its current time slot.

E. This fact reinforces the idea that the show’s low profitability is permanent, which makes the decision to retain it less logical. It doesn’t offer a hidden benefit that justifies retention.

guddo · Answer

Generalization: The more viewers a television show attracts, the greater the advertising revenue it generates.
Situation: Production costs for Starlight, the VNT network’s most popular weekly show, are very high and rising. The advertising revenue Starlight generates minus the show’s production costs is below average for VNT shows and is declining.
Judgment: VNT’s profits would be better protected by retaining Starlight than by replacing it with a show of average popularity and average production costs. 
 
Which of the following, if true, provides the strongest reason for considering the judgment to be well founded?

Starlight itself is not especially profitable because its production costs are very high. So to justify keeping it, we need a reason why Starlight helps VNT’s overall profits in some other way.  The best support  would show that Starlight increases revenue for other shows, not just for  itself .

A. The average profits of VNT shows have increased in each of the last three years.

This does not show that keeping Starlight protects profits better than replacing it.

B. Shows that occupy time slots immediately before and after a very popular show tend to have far more viewers than they otherwise would.

This is correct. Since Starlight is VNT’s most popular show, it may increase viewership for the shows before and after it. Because more viewers mean more advertising revenue, keeping Starlight may protect VNT’s overall profits even if Starlight’s own net profit is below average.

C. Starlight currently has the highest production costs of all VNT shows.

This weakens the judgment. It makes Starlight look financially burdensome.

D. Last year VNT lost money on a weekly show that was substantially similar to Starlight but was broadcast on a different day of the week than Starlight is.

This does not help much. A similar show on a different day does not show that retaining Starlight is better than replacing it with an average show.

E. Starlight’s high production costs are a direct result of its format and content and cannot be reduced without fundamentally changing the show.

This does not support keeping Starlight. It suggests the cost problem cannot be fixed.

Answer: (B)

MartyMurray · Answer

Generalization: The more viewers a television show attracts, the greater the advertising revenue it generates.

Situation: Production costs for Starlight, the VNT network’s most popular weekly show, are very high and rising. The advertising revenue Starlight generates minus the show’s production costs is below average for VNT shows and is declining.

Judgment: VNT’s profits would be better protected by retaining Starlight than by replacing it with a show of average popularity and average production costs.

Which of the following, if true, provides the strongest reason for considering the judgment to be well founded?

The correct answer to this Strengthen question will provide support for "the judgment." So, a key step in answering this question correctly is to identify the judgment.

Judgment: VNT’s profits would be better protected by retaining Starlight than by replacing it with a show of average popularity and average production costs.

Also, other statements in the stimulus may provide useful information. So, noting what they say about the relationship between viewers and revenue and about the costs and revenue of Starlight is another key aspect of setting up to get this question correct.

A. The average profits of VNT shows have increased in each of the last three years.

This general fact about VNT does not indicate that retaining Starlight specifically would be good for profits.

Eliminate.

B. Shows that occupy time slots immediately before and after a very popular show tend to have far more viewers than they otherwise would.

This choice is interesting because of the fact stated at the beginning of the stimulus:

The more viewers a television show attracts, the greater the advertising revenue it generates.

After all, if that's true and this choice is true, then the shows before and after Starlight, "the VNT network’s most popular weekly show," likely have more viewers than they would and therefore generate more advertising revenue than they would if Starlight did not appear between them.

So, this choice indicates that retaining Starlight would be good for profits because the presence of that popular show makes other shows more profitable.

Keep.

C. Starlight currently has the highest production costs of all VNT shows.

The fact that Starlight has the highest production costs would not be a reason why retaining the show would be good for profits.

Eliminate.

D. Last year VNT lost money on a weekly show that was substantially similar to Starlight but was broadcast on a different day of the week than Starlight is.

The fact that VNT lost money on a similar show is clearly not a reason why retaining Starlight would be good for profits.

Eliminate.

E. Starlight’s high production costs are a direct result of its format and content and cannot be reduced without fundamentally changing the show.

The fact that the production costs cannot be reduced would not be a reason why retaining the show would be good for profits.

If anything, this choice does the opposite of what the correct answer must do by providing a reason to believe that retaining the show would not be good for profits.

Eliminate.

Correct answer:   B

Generalization: The more viewers a television show attracts

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