PrepTest 104, Section 1, Question 7
Because of the recent recession in Country A,(57 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(13 more words not shown)
- AMost magazines reduce(9 more words not shown)
- BThe audience for(15 more words not shown)
- CAdvertising is the(19 more words not shown)
- DBecause of the(16 more words not shown)
- EMore of the(19 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
How can the biggest magazines be in danger while more magazines are financially successful than ever?
The lost advertising revenue explains the trouble for the most widely read magazines. It doesn't yet explain why the number of successful magazines has increased. More readers sounds helpful, but we need to know how that reading translates into money.
Perhaps people are reading magazines from elsewhere. That might account for some increased reading, but it wouldn't by itself explain where the successful magazines' revenue comes from. A more useful possibility is that some magazines earn money in another way. If readers pay for copies or subscriptions, more readership could help those publications even as advertising declines.
What we’re looking for
The question asks us to reconcile the facts. I want a difference between the magazines that depend on advertising and those that can succeed despite the loss of it. We don't need every magazine to thrive; the number doing well can rise while the largest ones struggle.
Working the answers
- A
Charging less for an advertisement could help explain falling advertising revenue. It doesn't, without more information, explain why more magazines are financially successful. Lower prices might attract more advertisers, but the answer doesn't say that happened or that it offset the lost revenue. It doesn't connect the two sides of the puzzle.
- B
A television show's much larger audience gives us a comparison with another medium. It doesn't explain why some magazines prosper while the most widely read magazines are threatened. We need a distinction among the magazines and their sources of money.
- CCorrect
The most widely read magazines rely mainly on advertising, so a fall in advertising revenue can put them in danger. Other magazines rely on circulation revenue—money from selling copies and subscriptions. More people reading more magazines can help that second group.
Now the two outcomes fit together. Publications depending on advertisers can struggle while enough reader-supported publications succeed to increase the total number of financially successful magazines. Losing some advertising doesn't have the same financial impact on every magazine.
- D
Borrowing explains how readership could grow without a matching increase in paid subscriptions. But that would make it harder to explain the growing number of financially successful magazines. More people reading the same paid copy doesn't by itself provide more money to the publisher.
- E
More new magazines surviving is not an explanation of why they are financially successful. A publication could survive while barely covering its costs or relying on outside support. E also doesn't connect survival with the fall in advertising revenue. It adds an outcome without giving us the mechanism C provides.
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