Set membership fee under investment constraints

Quick Overview

This question evaluates quantitative skills in pricing optimization, constrained investment allocation, and interpretation of willingness-to-pay curves, testing competency in combining economic reasoning with statistical and mathematical modeling.

Set membership fee under investment constraints

Company: Capital One

Role: Data Scientist

Category: Statistics & Math

Difficulty: medium

Interview Round: HR Screen

You receive $150M to produce content; each show costs $5M. Assume you price at the maximum WTP implied by the number of shows (per the WTP curve in the previous question) and that price cannot exceed the $20 cap. a) How many shows do you produce and what monthly membership fee do you set? b) If total investment increases to $250M (same per-show cost), recompute the number of shows and the price. State all assumptions and show calculations.

Quick Answer: This question evaluates quantitative skills in pricing optimization, constrained investment allocation, and interpretation of willingness-to-pay curves, testing competency in combining economic reasoning with statistical and mathematical modeling.

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Oct 13, 2025, 9:49 PM
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Streaming membership pricing vs. content investment

Context

You are designing a monthly membership for a streaming service. Producing original shows increases members' willingness to pay (WTP). The WTP as a function of the number of shows is given by a known "WTP curve" from the prior question. You price at the maximum WTP implied by the number of shows, but price cannot exceed a $20/month cap.

  • Each show costs $5M to produce.
  • You can choose how many shows to produce, subject to the investment amount.
  • Price set = min(WTP implied by the chosen number of shows, $20 cap).

Task

a) With a total investment of $150M, how many shows do you produce and what monthly price do you set?

b) If total investment increases to $250M (same per-show cost), recompute the number of shows and the price.

State all assumptions and show your calculations.

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