Self-study
A film makes a profit if the number of people who see it is sufficient to generate revenues from ticket sales greater than the amount spent to make it. ██████ ███ ███████ ████ ██ █████ ██████████ ██ ██ ████████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ ███ ███ █ █████ ████████ ██ ██ ███ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ██████████ ██████████ ██ ████████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ █████ ██████
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why is maximizing the number of viewers for a TV show not the primary goal for TV executives, even though maximizing viewers is the primary goal for movie executives? Films make a profit if the number of viewers is enough to generate ticket sales greater than the amount spent to make the film. So, we might expect the same to be true for TV shows.
Objective
The correct answer should help differentiate TV shows from films in a way that would suggest maximizing viewers isn’t as important for a TV shows as it is for a film.
6.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████████ ███████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ██████████ ███ █████ ██ ██████████ ███████████
a
More people are ███████ ██ ███ █ ████ ████ ████ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ █ ██████████ ████ ████ ████ █████
The willingness of a viewer to watch the same film or the same TV show doesn’t relate to the motivation of TV executives or the connection between viewership and profits for TV shows.
b
There is no ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ███████ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ████████ ████ ██ ███████ ████████████ ██ █████ ██████████
This answer concerns profits of movie theater owners. But that doesn’t explain why TV show executives don’t have maximizing viewership as the primary goal. Wouldn’t we still expect higher viewership to lead to more profits?
c
The average cost ██ █████████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ ████ ██ █████████ ██ ████ ██ ███████████
So, films are more expensive to produce than TV shows per hour. Wouldn’t we still expect TV show execs to want more profits and for more viewership to serve that purpose? They might not need to make as much as films do to make a profit, but we’d still expect them to want viewers.
d
Television shows make █████ ███████ ████ █████████ ███ ███ ███████ █████████ ████ ███ ██████████ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ █████ █ ██████████ █████
This tells us something that differentiates TV shows from movies in a way that could affect TV executives’ goal. Since TV profits come from sponsors (rather than from ticket sales), TV executives might prioritize reaching rich viewers rather than the number of viewers.
e
Over half of ███ ████ ███████ ██████████ █████ ███ █████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██ ██████
This still leaves a significant portion of TV shows that could require payment to watch. We’d still expect TV executives to want to maximize viewership of these shows. Why don’t they? This answer doesn’t provide a potential explanation.