Not really. Most modern viewers are indifferent to Brock's departure and Misty remained gone in the first place for the same reason. The original trio is not why people watch Pokemon. If that were the case the show could have never gone on for 10 years without it.
Actually, I've seen a lot of people saying that they continued to watch Pokémon because Brock was there. And I messed up with the modern viewers thing. Most ORIGINAL viewers miss Brock. That dropped the scales for views. But what people loved about the trio is really how that trio was the original (obviously) and also Team Rocket were not so serious in the beginning. A lot of people miss how when the original trio was there, it was more adventure and random things in the way and then they save the day and Team Rocket blasts off (again). It never really gets old. Now they are all bad-ass (but not in a good way) and stole Pikachu. And it worked (but Ash obviously went and got it back). So I guess people really miss the immaturity and how fun (and it actually used to be a bit funny) and care-free it was. It's all business now.
Are you joking? People didn't continue watching because Brock was still there, they watched because they enjoy the show. Misty and Brock aren't any more popular than May, Dawn, Iris or Cilan. Most people aren't obsessed with the original trio.
That's why Pokeshipping was largely left on the sidelines, the writers saw no reason to focus on it much anymore.