Between the lose of Paula and adding Ellen, Idol will see about a 20% decline in viewership. Losing Paula made enough fans mad, and adding Ellen just made things worse. They would have been better just sticking with 3 judges.
Were actual fans angry at the loss of Paula? Or was it haters upset at the loss of her oddball drug and alcohol influenced comments? I’m thinking the later, in the early days Paula sometimes had something useful to say, but she’s gotten weirder every season and by the mid-point of last season she had become pretty much a full time embarrassment.