Advertising is one of the key revenue generators for the website drenc

Question

Advertising is one of the key revenue generators for the website drench.com. Based on a user’s preferences and profile, relevant advertisements are displayed to the user, and the company gets money every time the user clicks on an advertisement. Lately, however, applications that allow people to block advertisements have been gaining popularity among the users of drench.com. Therefore, to prevent any further decrease in the revenues, drench.com must ban such applications from running on its website.

Which of the following, if true, weakens the suggested plan of action in the above argument?

(A) In order for drench.com to execute the suggested change, it will have to invest almost the same amount of money that it has lost so far to the advertisement-blocking applications.

(B) Users cannot override the technology that drench.com will use to block such applications from its website.

(C) The website can easily charge the users for using such applications to compensate for any loss of advertisement revenue.

(D) Most of the website visitors who use the advertisement-blocking applications would have found the information in the advertisements quite useful.

(E) The number of people using such applications on drench.com is less than the number not using such applications.

winterschool · Answer

Advertising is one of the key revenue generators for the website drench.com. Based on a user’s preferences and profile, relevant advertisements are displayed to the user, and the company gets money every time the user clicks on an advertisement. Lately, however, applications that allow people to block advertisements have been gaining popularity among the users of drench.com. Therefore, to prevent any further decrease in the revenues, drench.com must ban such applications from running on its website.

Which of the following, if true, weakens the suggested plan of action in the above argument?

(A) In order for drench.com to execute the suggested change, it will have to invest almost the same amount of money that it has lost so far to the advertisement-blocking applications.  Correct

lost revenue equal to cost of new application, so revenue will not increase

(B) Users cannot override the technology that drench.com will use to block such applications from its website.  Incorrect

it increase the possibility of more revenues

(C) The website can easily charge the users for using such applications to compensate for any loss of advertisement revenue.  Incorrect

irrelevant

(D) Most of the website visitors who use the advertisement-blocking applications would have found the information in the advertisements quite useful.  Incorrect

support argument

(E) The number of people using such applications on drench.com is less than the number not using such applications.  Incorrect

not a fact

PyjamaScientist · Answer

(B)  in my opinion. Time taken 01:07.

The plan is made to stop adblockers from running on their website to stop decrease in revenue.

But what if the "users" can override their "banning system"? That way their revenue will continue to plummet and cause further damage.

(B) does exactly that and this the correct choice in my opinion. Let's wait for the OA.

Posted from my mobile device

Foreheadson · Answer

B actually strengthens the argument.

OE is incorrect. C provides alternative explanation. It certainly does not weaken the argument. poor quality quesiton.

PGPJr · Answer

Advertising is one of the key revenue generators for the website drench. Based on a user’s preferences and profile, relevant advertisements are displayed to the user, and the company gets money every time the user clicks on an advertisement. Lately, however, applications that allow people to block advertisements have been gaining popularity among the users of drench. Therefore, to prevent any further decrease in the revenues, drench must ban such applications from running on its website.

Which of the following, if true, weakens the suggested plan of action in the above argument?

(A) In order for drench to execute the suggested change, it will have to invest almost the same amount of money that it has lost so far to the advertisement-blocking applications.

(B) Users cannot override the technology that drench will use to block such applications from its website.

(C) The website can easily charge the users for using such applications to compensate for any loss of advertisement revenue.

(D) Most of the website visitors who use the advertisement-blocking applications would have found the information in the advertisements quite useful.

(E) The number of people using such applications on drench is less than the number not using such applications.[/quote

According to me, C is the correct option. I took 2:11 to solve this and was struck between A & C. When compared, C seems to weaken the argument more than A does. 
Consider this:
Even of the company has to invest the same amount of money that it has lost so far to the advertisement-blocking applications, it is still going to be beneficial in the long run. On the other hand, the website can EASILY charge users for using such blocking applications rather than going through to whole time, effort and cost consuming process of banning such websites and in doing so wouldn't harm their revenues, as the ones that are adamant about not watching the advertisements displayed would never actually click on them. 
Therefore, I would go with C. If anything, imposing a fee on the people using such blocking applications is gonna fetch drench money that they would have otherwise never seen.
I would love it for some Verbal expert to tell me otherwise.

Hope this helps,
PGP.

chaitanyapatil · Answer

B was a trap here, the object is to suggest a weakener that states that there is no need to ban such applications. 
To do this we need to show them a reason why some alternative strategy might work instead of a blanket ban over all such applications that enable a user to block ads.

C does that, C tells us a reason why there is no need to ban the ads, and this reason is that website can simply charge the users of such application a fee for using the application so that lost revenue is recovered.

gmatcafe · Answer

A is incorrect. We are talking about revenue, not about costs/capex.

Ivy17 · Answer

Hi, I agree with your reasoning about why answer A also doesn't seem to be a very strong weakener, but C basically suggests an alternative plan of action, whereas the question stems asks us to find a weakener for the suggested plan of action i.e a reason as to why the suggested plan of action by Drench.com may not have the intended outcome. How does then an alternative plan of action seem to fare as a good weakener? It's highly possible that Drench.com could do this in 100 other more effective ways, but seemingly that is not what the question stem is asking for.

Ivy17 · Answer

Hi, how is C the correct answer? The question is asking for us to find a reason why the suggested plan of action may not go through, but C is offering an alternative plan of action. Even so the other options do not sound like strong weakeners as well.

glagad · Answer

How is C the correct answer?

What if, after charging some small fee, the users use the ad-blocking application cost the company a huge loss by never contributing to the ads that they once did?

That does add to the revenue decrease.

egmat · Answer

glagad  I like your question because it unravels a very subtle but important rule when you deal with GMAT questions. 
 
Here's the Core Problem with Your Analysis:

You're adding an assumption that  isn't  in the answer choice. You said "after charging some  small fee " - but notice that answer choice C never says the fee would be small. In fact, C explicitly states the website can charge users "to  compensate for any loss  of advertisement revenue."

The phrase " compensate for any loss " is critical here - it means the fee would  fully make up for  the lost ad revenue. If that's true (and in Critical Reasoning weaken questions, we must take the answer choice at face value), then there's no net revenue loss.

Why This Weakens the Plan:

The argument concludes that drench.com  MUST ban  ad-blocking applications to prevent revenue decrease. But if answer choice C is true - if they can simply charge users for ad-blockers and fully compensate for the lost ad revenue - then banning isn't necessary anymore.

Strategic Guidance - The "Accept as True" Principle:

In CR questions, you must:
 
  Accept the answer choice exactly as stated  - don't add your own assumptions (like "small fee") 
  Don't imagine scenarios that contradict the answer choice  - if it says "compensate," assume full compensation 
  Ask: "If this statement is true, does it affect the conclusion?"  - not "Could there be exceptions to this?"

When you find yourself thinking "but what if..." you're likely adding assumptions beyond what's stated. Stick strictly to what's written in the answer choice.

Hope this helps! If you are still unclear about anything, feel free to ask!

Advertising is one of the key revenue generators for the website drenc

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Advertising is one of the key revenue generators for the website drenc

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