PrepTest 138, Section 2, Question 6
A film makes a profit if the number(58 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(19 more words not shown)
- AMore people are(19 more words not shown)
- BThere is no(19 more words not shown)
- CThe average cost(19 more words not shown)
- DTelevision shows make(20 more words not shown)
- EOver half of(16 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Why wouldn't television executives want the biggest audience they can get?
For the movie executives, I can see the connection: more people buying tickets means more ticket revenue, which helps cover the cost of making the film. The passage then says television executives have a different primary goal. That doesn't mean they don't care about viewers at all. It means maximizing the head count isn't their top priority.
Maybe television makes money differently. If advertisers are paying to reach potential customers, who watches might matter more than how many people watch. A smaller audience with more money to spend could be more attractive than a larger audience with less purchasing power. Or perhaps television executives have some other goal altogether.
What we’re looking for
The question asks us to explain the difference. I want information about television's incentives that makes its different priority understandable. We already have an explanation for the movie executives' focus on ticket buyers.
Working the answers
- A
Willingness to watch something again doesn't explain why maximizing television's audience isn't the primary goal. Even if viewers usually watch a show only once, executives might still want as many different people as possible to watch it. A leaves their incentives unexplained.
- B
This concerns profits earned by movie-theater owners from refreshments. The passage explains movie executives' goal through ticket revenue covering the cost of making the film. A difference in concession sales doesn't tell us how television executives make money or why their top goal differs.
- C
Cheaper production might make it easier to cover a television show's costs, but it wouldn't by itself explain a different primary goal. A less expensive show could still make more money by attracting more viewers. We need to know why audience size isn't the main thing television executives maximize.
- DCorrect
Television's revenue comes from sponsors, and those sponsors chiefly care about viewers' purchasing power. That gives television executives a reason to pursue an audience valuable to sponsors rather than simply the largest possible audience. It matches the predicted difference in how the two businesses earn money.
- E
Not charging viewers doesn't tell us what television executives do want. Free shows could still earn revenue in a way that rewards the largest audience. D supplies the missing incentive: sponsors chiefly value purchasing power. E merely tells us that many popular shows don't charge their viewers.
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