I'm not popular, It's still an enigma to me
Guess to attract people, you've to get what people like
While it's true to some extent, I'm honestly tired hearing "WaNnA bE PopuLAr? ThEn BE GoOD," kind of shit. It's not that easy, this world isn't fair. If the world was fair, the tax-frauding 1% rich guy who is just eating his inheritance money that he don't have to work wouldn't exist.
For me it's rather: "Wanna be popular? Then be loveable." Be likeable.
If quality really determines your chance for popularity, then why is the shitty Twilight fanfic called Fifty Shades of Grey being made into movies? Why are publisher choosing on Wattpad stories that are cheap-ass disgusting romance written by horny teens who can't differentiate between "they're" and "their"? Why is the popular webcomic has shallow overused plot with people that have same face syndrome?
Quality-wise and theoretically, their crappy ass of quality should prevent them for making it
The main thing is that they like it, quality doesn't matter if you already hooked to something. It's like when you fall in love with someone, you'll excuse and not mind all their flaws.
As shallow and stupid as its sounds it is true; a simple slice of life with no plot might be more successful than a long-form story with sophisticated plot because it speaks to people and they love it, a simple anime style comic with cel shading that an 14 years old deviantArt kid can pull off might be more appealing than a painterly semi-realistic comic because the design just looks sweet and people like it.
Yet I don't know the key of being universally liked, so having a good marketing skill might help.