I don't understand. Not only me the people at 2ch also don't understand.
Since when was Hinata more popular than Neji or Sakura??
This has made the ppl at the thread confused.
He probably meant overall. in the 2009 interview he did mention how fans kept bugging him to have Hinata replace Sakura. My guess is he must got a kittenton of western fanmail involving Hinata (which would also explain why he said Sakura was disliked even though she's popular in Japan because for whatever reason people here hate Sakura unless she acts submissive like she does with Sasuke)