As we had discussed earlier, I do think the marketing of a serial matters. It also plays a major role in how an actor gains momentum among the diverse audience.
YVR2 is an example of a serial that faired poorly due to the poor marketing tactics on the part of Zee and the producers of the show. They relied too heavily on Zain's existing popularity that he earned through his involvement in TEI (also aired on Zee). I've liked him since his KYY days.
Abheer was a disappointment for me, especially after watching his earlier performances. The show didn't help his image in anyway. It was a treat for the fans to have him grace our screen again, but other then that it did nothing for him. The only good thing about his involvement from a marketing angle was the increased exposure Sonal got.
I do think YVR would have been much more popular if the had extended Roshini's arc as Survi. Roshini's performance was terrific and I would have loved to have seen her struggle with her feelings for Kartik and trying to hide them from him more with Tai and Vishaka thinking otherwise and using it as an accuse to blackmail her further before sending her away. I wanted to see more of Lata too in that arc going against Tai. Old Lata was very talented.
For the sake of popularizing karvi and YVR more for the romantic quotient, they should have extended the arc from Sonal's entry to karvi's marriage. I am sure the show would have had many more fangirls going gaga for karvi and kartik (especially after they made me lose that horrendous gelled hair with way too much white, and those awful scarves).
Marketing is key in helping a serial gain momentum, but after it has,,= content is much more important. I still think a serial, one that lasts more than 100 episodes needs to have better marketing tactics throughout.