The overarching goal of all media is to engage as large an audience as possible with their offerings, and individuals in the media play a significant role in this. According to the concept of parasocial interaction, recipients can develop so-called parasocial relationships with media figures, whether they are hosts, actors, or artists. Central to this, but so far scarcely examined, is the role and behavior of these media figures. This paper therefore asks: What makes media figures popular personas with whom recipients build relationships? Initially, a model is developed as a synthesis of existing theoretical concepts and empirical research findings, integrating the characteristics of the persona and the recipients that are relevant to persona-centered media reception. Building on this, parts of this model are examined through two empirical sub-studies.