Self-study
Because of the recent recession in Country A, most magazines published there have experienced decreases in advertising revenue, so much so that the survival of the most widely read magazines is in grave doubt. ██ ███ ████ █████ ████████ ████ ██████ ██ ███████ █ ███ ███████ ████ █████████ ████ ████ ███████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ███████████ ██████████ █████████ ██ ███████ █ ██ ███████ ████ █████
"Surprising" Phenomenon
How is the survival of Country A’s most widely read magazines in doubt when readership numbers and the number of financially successful magazines are greater than ever?
Objective
The right answer will be a hypothesis that explains a key difference between the struggling, widely read magazines and the financially successful ones. This difference will explain how it is possible for some magazines to financially struggle while others succeed in the same economic environment.
7.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ███████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██████
a
Most magazines reduce ███ ██████ ████ ██████ ███ ██████████████ ██████ █ ██████████
(A) provides support for the fact that most magazines have experienced decreases in advertising revenue, but it does not offer insight into how, despite this, the number of financially successful magazines is higher than ever.
b
The audience for █ ██████████ ██████████ ████ ███ ███████ ███ ██████████ ██ ████ ███ ████ ██████ ████ █████████
The stimulus is solely focused on magazines. The audience size of a successful television show is not relevant to the stimulus.
c
Advertising is the ████ ██████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ██████████ █████ █████████ ████ ██ ███████████ ███ █████ ████████
The difference in the magazines’ revenue models explains the discrepancy. While the most widely read magazines depend on advertising revenue (which has dried up due to the recession), other magazines are able to profit from the country’s unprecedentedly high readership numbers.
d
Because of the ██████████ ██████ ██ ███████ █ ████ ███ ████ ██ ████████ █████████████ ███ ███ ███████ ████████ ██████████
People cutting back on magazine subscriptions would likely affect all magazines the same. (D) does not explain why some magazines are succeeding while others are failing.
e
More of the ███ ███████ ████████ █████████ ████ ████ ████████ ████ ████ ██ ███████ █ ████ ████████ ████ ████████ ██ ████████ ██████
(E) deepens the discrepancy; it does not help to resolve it. It highlights how one type of magazine is successful while failing to offer insight into why some magazines are succeeding as the most widely read ones fail.