A leading streaming service company has introduced a new pricing tier that allows users to watch shows and movies with advertisements at a reduced cost. The company is concerned that this cheaper ad-supported tier might lead to a significant decline in subscriptions to its more expensive, ad-free service. To mitigate this, the company plans to restrict access to its most popular original content exclusively to subscribers of the ad-free tier.
The company's plan assumes that:
(A) Subscribers primarily choose the ad-free tier to avoid advertisements, not necessarily for exclusive content.
We can look at assumptions, not entirely but partially, as strengtheners. Information presented by option A, instead of strengthening the given argument, weakens it and provides a reason to eliminate it as a possible assumption.
(B) The availability of popular original content will be a decisive factor for many users when choosing between the ad-supported and ad-free tiers.
Negation of B: popular original content will NOT be a decisive factor for many users.
If we take this shred of information to be true, there is no way the argument can hold together.
It will certainly fall apart. Thus, this is the assumption we are looking for.
CORRECT
(C) The reduced cost of the ad-supported tier will not significantly increase the total number of subscribers to the streaming service.
The company aims to maintain the number of subscribers of the more expensive scheme. It is not necessary to increase the number of subscribers.
The number of these subscribers may remain the same; they should just not move away.
Because assumptions are necessary for an argument, we can stop considering C as one.
(D) Most current subscribers to the ad-supported tier do not consider the price difference between the two tiers to be prohibitively large.
Company is not concerned about subscribers of less expensive (ad-supported tier) service, thus this choice is irrelevant.
Eliminate this option D.
(E) Other streaming services do not offer their premium content to subscribers of their lower-priced, ad-supported plans.
To consider this option as a possible assumption, we need it to fill the missing gap between 'subscribers of more expensive service' and 'restricted access to its most popular original content'. E doesn't do that. Moreover, the given argument does not discuss what is classified as premium content. Hence, we can put this option in the 'not an assumption' category.
B is correct.