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Advertisers Hurting Because of VCR's

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Advertisers Hurting Because of VCR's

by fighting_cax » Wed Nov 19, 2008 3:27 am
Many television viewers own videocassette recorders (VCR’s). Companies that advertise on television complain that VCR ownership hurts their business, since a VCR makes it possible to view television programs without watching the commercials. Indeed, two-thirds of those who tape programs on a VCR edit out the commercials when viewing the programs.
Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the companies’ complaint that VCR ownership is currently hurting their business?
(A) The methods for determining audience size, which in turn determines charges for advertising time, count households that are merely recording a program as households that are watching it.
(B) VCR manufacturers who advertise on television would themselves suffer the damage, if any, to advertisers’ interests that is caused by VCR’s.
(C) There are VCR’s that are in the early stages of development that will automatically edit out commercials during the recording process.
(D) Those who tape programs on VCR’s, but who do not edit out commercials when viewing the programs, tape more often than those who do edit out the commercials.
(E) Some television commercials are as entertaining or informative as the programs they interrupt.

Please explain.
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by mals24 » Wed Nov 19, 2008 4:06 am
IMO A

According to A audience size determines the charges of advertisements. Now if the audience size increases, the ad charges will also increase.

Audience size incorrectly puts households that record TV shows in the category of households that are watching these programs as they are being aired. So they assume that a large number of households are in fact watching the ads.

For instance, Audience size = 100
Suppose 20 households record TV shows.
However as per choice A, these 20 are included in the audience size of 100 and when the audience size increases, the ad charges also increase and the companies ad expenses will also go up thereby hurting these companies.
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by slash » Wed Nov 19, 2008 4:14 am
@ mals24

The argument does not discuss about charges for advertising time it discuss about tape programs on a VCR edit out the commercials when viewing the programs.

So option A is not the answer

I will go with option C

Curently two-third of people who tape programs on a VCR edit out the commercials when viewing the programs. The current two-third group pf people will increase if the VCR's are available with feature of automatically edit out commercials during the recording process.

So I prefer C
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by rohangupta83 » Wed Nov 19, 2008 4:23 am
agree with mals24 imo - A

VCR's under development which will eventually automatically exclude advertisements during recording is totally out of scope.

the question is not concerned with what 'could' happen in future but a reason which would strengthen that because of VCR's companies are incurring losses (of any kind).
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by mals24 » Wed Nov 19, 2008 4:26 am
@ slash

I had narrowed down the options to A and C

I ruled out C because the question is asking what would most strengthen the companies’ complaint that VCR ownership is currently hurting their business?

In option C, the new VCRs are still in the early stages of development and are hence not available in the market. So these VCRs will hurt the companies but in the future when they are launched. So this rules out C.
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by slash » Wed Nov 19, 2008 4:29 am
Thanks Guys... :?
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by Karen » Wed Nov 19, 2008 6:33 am
You guys already solved it -- it's A, and the explanations above for why it's not C are great. I just wanted to add that this kind of question shows why it's so important to look back to the set-up (the first paragraph of a CR) and doublecheck the wording when you're deciding between two answers. The question says "Companies that advertise on television complain that VCR ownership hurts their business". That's critical, because it means that evidence (such as A) that they're spending money for nothing is in scope -- it strengthens the argument that the VCRs are hurting their business. The same words "hurting their business" are repeated in the question stem.

If it had been worded differently, such as "Companies that advertise on television complain that VCR ownership reduces the size of the audience for their ads," and then asked merely which piece of evidence would provide the most support for their complaint, A would be out of scope.

When I'm solving them, I always look back to the original wording to make sure it all fits together.
Karen van Hoek, PhD
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by vanessa.m » Fri May 13, 2016 1:52 am
I also more inclened to option C
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by nicolette » Fri May 13, 2016 1:53 am
I'd be shocked if it wasn't A
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