Monday’s Ram-49er Telecast Turns Out to Be a Real Turn-Off

The Rams proved to be as big a turn-off to Southern California television viewers as they were to Anaheim Stadium fans Monday night.

Their 33-10 loss to the San Francisco 49ers was seen by 45% and 24% fewer viewers than Monday night games between the teams in 1989 and 1990, according to figures released Tuesday by the A.C. Nielsen Co.

Monday’s game on KABC drew a 19.8 rating, meaning it was seen in about 965,000 local households. (Each local ratings point is equivalent to 48,751 households.) When the playoff-bound Rams and 49ers met in 1989, about 1.4 million households tuned in and 1990’s game was seen in about 1.2 million households.

Still, “Monday Night Football” was the night’s best-watched program locally, finishing ahead of “Murphy Brown” (17.8) and “Memories of MASH” (16.8) on KCBS.

Nationally, the decline was 20% over 1989 and 29% over 1990. “Monday Night Football” had a 14.3 rating (13.1 million households), which finished behind six of the other eight programs broadcast on the three major networks. Each national ratings point is equivalent to 921,000 households.