I don't know.  They only need just enough demand to get listed on an exchange, and then you have hoards of emotionally unstable new investors waiting to hop into any new pump that comes their way.

Often even very poorly thought-out forks could end up doing pretty well.

There are only slight differences in the code, and these differences certainly don't warrant being called "Bitcoin" since they're not really trying to become as significant as the current main chain at this point.