Is Nielsen THAT Important?

[Paden]

I'm a newbie here and I see many mentions about whether a store reports to Nielsen or not all the time. And that's fine as this is one way for the industry to share sales numbers with the public and gives everyone an idea of what the sales of each format are, comparatively. But really, don't you think that the real #'s for sales are relatively available to the execs at each company. The Nielsen numbers are more like the Dow Jones Industrial Average, giving a snapshot of what's going on. I think the decision makers at WB and Fox, etc all prefer knowing what the sales numbers are internally when looking at how each format is selling. No?

OK, set me straight. Thanks.