‘Keeping Up With the Kardashians’ Began as a Reality Show. It’s Ending as So Much More

Whether you feel pride for the Kardashians—or elation or anger or amusement—there’s no denying you feel something. When Keeping Up With the Kardashians premiered in 2007, it was just your standard, family-centric reality fare, nothing we hadn’t already seen with The Osbournes. Unlike that series, though, the Kardashians managed to stay in the public consciousness. 

That’s partially because of Kim’s sex tape, which was released in March 2007, several months before KUWTK’s debut. Couple it with Kim’s Playboy cover, also released that year, and puritanical America had a very particular view of her. But Kim was able to control her narrative on KUWTK, dismantling people’s preconceived notions by letting them see who she really is. 

And people responded. In fact, they responded to the whole family. According to the podcast Even the Rich, 13 million viewers tuned in to KUWTK the first month it aired, and the numbers only increased from there. But where their Hills and Jersey Shore counterparts relied on ratings to stay relevant, the Kardashians didn’t rest on a hit show. They played the long game, hitting virtually every red carpet and endorsing everything from TrimSpa to Carl’s Jr. 

Simultaneously, they were tweeting and posting snapshots of their lives that only heightened interest in Keeping Up With the Kardashians. “I just signed up for Twitter,” Kim said enthusiastically in a 2009 interview—three years after the platform’s launch and well before stars like Katy Perry or even Kanye made it their domain. 

The sisters did the same thing on Instagram too. “The Kardashian-Jenners were the first to pursue a linear and social strategy at the same time, engaging both sets of audiences as the Keeping Up With the Kardashians franchise premiered,” says Claudine Cazian, Instagram’s head of public figures. “They’ve built a massive following through their ability to create intimate, personal relationships with their fans.” 

“Kim’s documented her everyday in a way that’s made people feel like they’re on the ride,” Diamond says. “I think everybody does this now. I’m not going to say the Kardashians were the original, but Kim has been very intentional since the beginning of always starting her content with, ‘Guys, this.’ The words she uses really make you feel like you’re her friend.”

The Kardashian-Jenners have accrued millions of “friends,” a.k.a. fans. The five sisters have a combined 907 million Instagram followers, and those followers hang on their every word. They’ll even go under the knife if that means looking a little more like Kylie Jenner. “It’s undeniable that people love the Kardashians. It’s undeniable they’re incredibly influential,” says Jess Cagle, Sirius XM radio host and former People editorial director. “There’s a kind of great respect, sometimes a begrudging respect, for the empire they’ve built.” 

Longtime KUWTK executive producer Farnaz Farjam watched this empire grow in real time. She says there was a distinct shift in the Kardashians’ profile after the first season of Kourtney and Kim Take Miami, which aired in 2009.

“During season one of Take Miami, we literally stayed right on the strip,” she recalls. “Me and Kourtney used to go for jogs from one end of the strip to the Fontainebleau resort.” But when they “stupidly” booked the same accommodations that next year, “We couldn’t even go on the beach. We would have to find the most remote beach and sneak away, or we’d have to get up super early in the morning to do anything on the beach before the paparazzi were awake.”