<p>This is such a common marketing strategy that I doubt it has an origin, but as for why it is done, it is to cater to the audience.</p>

<p>In the manga <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakuman" rel="nofollow">Bakuman</a>, a popularity poll placed a side character named Kazuya Hiramaru in fourth place, immediately afterwards several chapters were devoted to him, which were very popular.</p>

<p>This implies that this practice is equally beneficial, and probably smiled upon by both readers and editors alike.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-26T03:34:44.933Z
2013-03-26T03:34:44.933Z
Celesol
<p>I know that manga publishers such as Weekly Shonen Jump hold character popularity contests for mangas such as Naruto and Bleach. Where did this originate and why is it done?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-04T20:48:40.243Z
It probably has at least a little to do with using them as marketing tools to see what characters are popular among what demographics
Jon Lin
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-07T07:48:35.600Z
I expect it also makes for good feedback for the author to know which characters are working and which aren't. For example, in Negima, Makie Sasaki topped a popularity poll when she hadn't even had a story devoted to her and had never done anything particularly noteworthy. A little while later, there was a story that focused on her. Somehow, Makie was working for the readers, but it probably would have been hard to see that from an author's perspective.
Torisuda
<anime-production><anime-history>
Where did character popularity polls originate?
# Where did character popularity polls originate?
Posted by: username_0 on 2013-03-04
I know that manga publishers such as Weekly Shonen Jump hold character popularity contests for mangas such as Naruto and Bleach. Where did this originate and why is it done?
**Tags:** anime-production anime-history
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: It probably has at least a little to do with using them as marketing tools to see what characters are popular among what demographics  
> **username_2**: I expect it also makes for good feedback for the author to know which characters are working and which aren't. For example, in Negima, Makie Sasaki topped a popularity poll when she hadn't even had a story devoted to her and had never done anything particularly noteworthy. A little while later, there was a story that focused on her. Somehow, Makie was working for the readers, but it probably would have been hard to see that from an author's perspective.  
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## 1 answers
### Answer by username_3 on 2013-03-26. Score: 3
This is such a common marketing strategy that I doubt it has an origin, but as for why it is done, it is to cater to the audience.

In the manga [Bakuman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakuman), a popularity poll placed a side character named Kazuya Hiramaru in fourth place, immediately afterwards several chapters were devoted to him, which were very popular.

This implies that this practice is equally beneficial, and probably smiled upon by both readers and editors alike.
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