Candle Corporation’s television stations are likely to have more incom

Conclusion - Candle Corporation’s television stations are likely to have more income from advertisers than previously
Premises - advertisers prefer to reach people in the 18- to 49-year-old age group and the number of people in the group watching Candle television is increasing
Also , among Candle viewers, the percentage of viewers 18 to 49 years old is increasing.

Strengthen
A) Advertisers carefully monitor the demographic characteristics of television audiences and purchase advertising time to reach the audiences they prefer to reach. Correct
B) Among people over 49 years old, fewer viewers of Candle stations buy products advertised on television than do viewers of other stations. Out of scope
C) There will be increasingly more advertisements on television that are directed at viewers who are over 49 years old. Irrelevant as our focus group is 18-49 years
D) Candle stations plan to show reruns of television shows during hours when other stations run shows for the first time. Irrelevant
E) People 18 to 49 years old generally have less disposable income to spend than do people over 49 years old. Irrelevant - On the contrary if this is true ,advertisers will be reluctant to reach out to 18-49 years .

Answer A

I cannot agree more. Spending an extra 10 seconds on anticipating the answer for the question, figuring out the most important assumption for the argument, would save you time trying to determine if the correct answer choice could be an assumption.

My doubt is how is it gonna increase the revenue. The Advertising time is constant and the CCTS is paid by advertisers on fixed amount per second.

So Revenue remains constant. ?
I am a bit confused. GMATNinja , abhimahna please explain me whether am overthinking or my approach is wrong.

Thank you

Hey Nightmare007 ,

I don't think I understood your question completely but I will provide my views based on what I understood.

Author's Conclusion: Candle Corporation’s television stations are likely to have more income from advertisers than previously.

Premise: 1) The number of people in the required group watching Candle television is increasing.
2) The percentage of 18 to 49 years old Candle viewers is increasing.

So, it means say I used to have 10 people who were watching Candle TV and out of which 7 were between 18 and 49 age. Revenue I used to get was for those 10 people only. But now, since the count has increased, won't I get more money? Advertisers are going to pay me based on the number of people they are reaching.

Does that make sense?

Conclusion - Candle Corporation’s television stations are likely to have more income from advertisers than previously
Premises - advertisers prefer to reach people in the 18- to 49-year-old age group
1. the number of people in the group watching Candle television is increasing
2. among Candle viewers, the percentage of viewers 18 to 49 years old is increasing.
So the author leaves no ambiguity in terms of the number and percentage of viewers of CCTS.


What would strengthen the conclusion?


This answer option sounds good as if the "Advertisers carefully monitor the demographic characteristics of television audiences and purchase advertising time to reach the audiences they prefer to reach." they would certainly buy air time from CCTS as CCTS has more numbers and percentage of the target audience of advertisers. We shall hold on to this option.


The argument mentions the target audience as the people in age group 18-49 years old. People in age group more than 49 are not the target audience. Hence this option is out of scope.

As answer option B, C also is out of scope for the same reason.


The answer options seems to have no impact on the conclusion of the question.
If any: If CCTS shows the reruns when other channels would run show for the first time, the probability is high that CCTS would have less TRP at that time. Hence less people watching the channel at that time. Why would the advertisers buy time?


Oops if that's the case then may be the choice of the target audience is wrong. Well, advertisers love them, then why would we stop them from loving their target audience. No Impact.
Hence A is the best option.

Asked: Strengthen

Pre-thinking: For the conclusion to be true, the author has assumed that with growing advertisements, the targeted audience will not stop watching the TV programs. Another assumption could be that advertisers have access to information about viewership and demographic split and make advertising decisions based on these. Correct option must strengthen these assumptions

Error Analysis:
A) Matches our pre thinking. Correct
B) Argument doesn't talk about whether items are in fact bought because that is a revenue decision for advertisers and not Candle TV. Out of focus
C) This weakens the argument
D) Out of focus
E) Same as B

EASY, STRENGTHEN


Pre-thinking: This is what is known as a GAP . The author mentions that advertisers prefer to "reach" certain people, and that the number of those people who watch the station is increasing. However, the author never mentions whether this advertisers are willing to buy advertising time or whether they KNOW OR REALIZE that the number of people within that age group is increasing in Candle.



A) Advertisers carefully monitor the demographic characteristics of television audiences and purchase advertising time to reach the audiences they prefer to reach. -------- CORRECT. This closes the gap. Advertisers MONITOR the demographics of the TV stations (so they will know that the demographics in Candle corporation is changing) and ARE WILLING TO PURCHASE this advertising time.



B) Among people over 49 years old, fewer viewers of Candle stations buy products advertised on television than do viewers of other stations. -------- We don't care about people who are over 49 years old, since the argument does not say whether this age group is significant or not for Candle.


C) There will be increasingly more advertisements on television that are directed at viewers who are over 49 years old. --------- Again, the people who are over 49 are not important, since the argument does not say whether this age group is significant or not for Candle.


D) Candle stations plan to show reruns of television shows during hours when other stations run shows for the first time. -------- Out of scope. There's no relation between reruns and the argument.


E) People 18 to 49 years old generally have less disposable income to spend than do people over 49 years old. --------- Okay, but it doesn't matter. The argument already tells us that the advertisers PREFER this age group. However, this answer choice does nothing to close the gap.

Understanding the Passage


Candle Corporation’s television stations are likely to have more income from advertisers than previously.


Candle Corporation likely runs television stations. These stations are probably going to earn more revenue from advertisers than they were earning earlier.
So, advertisers are a source of revenue for Candle.


This is because advertisers prefer to reach people in the 18- to 49-year-old age group

The reason Candle is likely to earn more revenue is two-fold:
1. advertisers want to target the audience in the 18 to 49-year age group.


and the number of people in that group watching Candle television is increasing.


2. the number of people in the age group of 18 – 49 years who watch Candle television is increasing.

So, because the number of Candle viewers in18-49 age group is growing and also because the advertisers want to target this precise group, Candle is set to earn more revenue from advertisers than before.


Furthermore, among Candle viewers, the percentage of viewers 18 to 49 years old is increasing

Not only is the number of viewers in the 18-49 age group growing, but this group is also becoming a bigger proportion of the total number of Candle’s viewers.


Conclusion

Candle Corporation’s television stations will likely get more revenue from their advertisers than they had been receiving earlier.


Pre-thinking


If a statement shows that the advertisers are able to selectively target the 18-49 age group viewers of Candle television stations, then we are likely to believe more in the conclusion that Candle Corp will earn more revenue than before.



A) Advertisers carefully monitor the demographic characteristics of television audiences and purchase advertising time to reach the audiences they prefer to reach. CORRECT

This option means that the advertisers carefully follow and identify the age-group of television audiences and they buy advertising time accordingly to display their advertisements to their target audience. This is in-line with our pre-thinking.


B) Among people over 49 years old, fewer viewers of Candle stations buy products advertised on television than do viewers of other stations.

The advertisers of Candle are interested only in the 18-49 years age group. They prefer targeting them. Therefore, what the people over 49 years buy, is not of any interest to the advertisers. This option has no impact on the conclusion.


C) There will be increasingly more advertisements on television that are directed at viewers who are over 49 years old.

This option too talks about an age group that is not being discussed in the passage and hence, is irrelevant to the conclusion.


D) Candle stations plan to show reruns of television shows during hours when other stations run shows for the first time.

Since the passage does not tell us the time period or the kind of shows during which advertisers are likely to advertise, this option is irrelevant to the discussion.


E) People 18 to 49 years old generally have less disposable income to spend than do people over 49 years old.

This is the correct age group as far as advertisers are concerned. The passage tells us that this group is growing among the Candle viewers. And that interests the advertisers. But if these people have less money to spend then the purpose of the advertisers is not served by targeting this group over television and they are less likely to advertise on Candle. In that case, Candle stands to lose revenue from advertisers. This rather weakens the conclusion.

Candle Corporation’s television stations are likely to have more income from advertisers than previously. This is because advertisers prefer to reach people in the 18- to 49-year-old age group and the number of people in the group watching Candle television is increasing. Furthermore, among Candle viewers, the percentage of viewers 18 to 49 years old is increasing.
Conclusion - Candle Corporation’s television stations are likely to have more income from advertisers than previously.
Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the argument that Candle Corporation will receive more income from advertisers?


A) Advertisers carefully monitor the demographic characteristics of television audiences and purchase advertising time to reach the audiences they prefer to reach.Yes. This shows that additional work is being done to ensure that CC obtains income from the audience that they want to reach.

B) Among people over 49 years old, fewer viewers of Candle stations buy products advertised on television than do viewers of other stations.This does not affect Candle Corporation income.

C) There will be increasingly more advertisements on television that are directed at viewers who are over 49 years old. Ok. But this does not necessarsily mean that it will result in more income for Candle Corporation.

D) Candle stations plan to show reruns of television shows during hours when other stations run shows for the first time. This may or may not affect the income candle corporation makes.

E) People 18 to 49 years old generally have less disposable income to spend than do people over 49 years old. This weakens the argument

I have selected the correct option based on the understanding of the passage and the options given and A is the best option to strengthen

However I have a silly doubt from the passage given. I am not able to understand how is 2nd and 3rd line different ? As per my understanding both are communicating the same meaning.

Can somebody please help clarify the same ?

Hi nivi2084,
Good to know that you were able to get to the correct answer!

You can find the detailed explanation of this question here.

However, since you are confused with the second and third line, I can say that you have not learned everything that you can from this question. You got lucky this time but that may not happen always. Hence, let’s visualize what the two lines convey.

Visualization:
The two pieces of information that seem similar to you are:

A. The number of people in the group watching Candle television (CT) is increasing.
B. Among Candle viewers, the percentage of viewers 18 to 49 years old is increasing.

While “A” is about an increase in a number, “B” is about an increase in a percentage. Since you think that these both convey the same meaning, here is an important learning for you: Increase in number does not mean that the percentage will also increase and vice versa. Let me explain with examples:

Example 1:

Let’s say the number of people in the age group 18-49 years who watch CT has increased from 20 to 40.

o So, A is true.
Meanwhile, the total number of viewers for CT has increased from 100 to 200.

o In that case, the percentage of CT viewers in the given age group stays constant (20/100 = 40/200 = 20%)
o Hence, B is not true.

Example 2:

Let’s say the number of people in the age group 18-49 years who watch CT has increased from 20 to 40.

o So, A is true.
Meanwhile, the total number of viewers for CT has increased from 100 to 400.

o In that case, the percentage of CT viewers in the given age group will reduce from (20/100 =) 20% to (40/400=) 10%
o Hence, B is not true.

Example 3:

Let’s say the number of people in the age group 18-49 years who watch CT has increased from 20 to 40.

o So, A is true.
Meanwhile, the total number of viewers for CT stayed constant at 100.

o In that case, the percentage of CT viewers in the given age group will increase from (20/100 =) 20% to (40/100=) 40%
o Hence, B is true.

Summary-
Hence, the percentage may or may not increase corresponding to an increase in absolute value. This is a very important learning and is tested very frequently in GMAT CR. So, please be careful when you are dealing with a question dealing with absolute values and percentages.

Also, this Easy question can be easily turned into a Hard question by creating a trap answer choice around the second and third lines. Hence, if you want to get a good score, pay attention to every piece of information given to you and understand it thoroughly.


Happy learning!
Kanupriya

­Hi GMATNinja KarishmaB


For option B,
let's say, viewers from the age group > 49 = A
viewers from the age group 18-49 = B

Can we say that A people are independent of B people so it doesn't matter what A people do with buying products advertised on television, if A people increase, B people might decrease or increase, hence, option B doesn't help us much to strengthen the argument.
Please let me know your thoughts, I just wanted to confirm if I thought in the right direction. If wrong then where did I go wrong in the reasoning?

­Advertisers prefer to reach 18- to 49-year-olds
No. of people in this age group watching Candle television is increasing.
Among Candle viewers, the percentage of viewers 18 to 49 years old is increasing.

Conclusion: Candle Corporation’s television stations are likely to have more income from advertisers than previously

The argument tells us that advertisers prefer something and that something is getting better at Candle. So it is concluding that Candle will get more advertisers. We need to strengthen it.


A) Advertisers carefully monitor the demographic characteristics of television audiences and purchase advertising time to reach the audiences they prefer to reach.

Great! This tells us that advertisers do monitor demographic characteristics and take action to reach the audiences they prefer to reach. So the changing demography of Candle is likley to be noticed by advertisers and hence it does become more likley that Candle's income will increase from advertisers.


B) Among people over 49 years old, fewer viewers of Candle stations buy products advertised on television than do viewers of other stations.

 People over 49 years old are irrelevant to us. So whether they  buy the products or not is also irrelevant to us. Advertisers are targeting 18 - 49 year olds so their response to advertisements could be relevant to us. But the 2 groups are independent and their buying habits may be very different.

agrasan

C) There will be increasingly more advertisements on television that are directed at viewers who are over 49 years old.

We know that ­advertisers prefer to reach 18- to 49-year-olds. Ignore.

D) Candle stations plan to show reruns of television shows during hours when other stations run shows for the first time.

This is likely to have negative impact on Candle's revenues, if at all. Eliminate. 

E) People 18 to 49 years old generally have less disposable income to spend than do people over 49 years old.

Irrelevant. ­Advertisers prefer to reach 18- to 49-year-olds and that is all. Who has more or less disposable income is irrelevant. Perhaps 18 - 49 yr olds are willing to spend whatever disposable incomes they have while over 49 years old people do not spend anything even if they have more disposable income - we don't know. 

Answer (A)