Imprecise ratings let Paley’s laid-back management keep NBC competitive.

Evidence

If Paley, with his easy living, was still able to keep up, it was because of a certain imprecision in the measurement of radio audiences, which was somewhat like guesswork. Unfortunately for him there would soon be a new way of keeping score. — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 361

Categorization

• XREF: The idea that lax measurement enabled slacker competitors foreshadows later metrics-driven competition in advertising markets — connects to the reader’s historical grounding.