It seems as if Marvel is just pulling ahead of DC every day. The days of a true DC and Marvel rivalry appears to haven't existed in a long time. If not for the fans the whole idea of a rivalry could probably already be put to rest. When looking at the studios directly competing it looks as if Marvel only loses a category due to omission. in other words Marvel simply hasn't focused on that particular market yet.
Merchandise is a lock due to Spider-man alone:
The graph is only a year old. Only missing 2015. in 2015 Marvel dominated with Daredevil season 1, Avengers:AoU, Antman and Jessica Jones. So i'm sure the 2014 pattern still holds up. There's no significant reason DC would have had a record breaking surge in merch without releasing anything in 2015. there's no numbers that proves otherwise. 2016 hasn't ended yet so there's no official numbers for it. So if you added all the rest of the MCU it's really not even a competition.
Movies, which is the most important category is really not even worth mentioning it's such a blow out. Quantity AND quality both in Marvel's favor. Also the MCU is the highest grossing franchise in history. What is it, like 11-12billion world wide with Doctor Strange coming in hot?
TV? well let's just say Daredevil is the #1 watched show on Netflix. Just one of the Netflix series beats all of the DCTV core shows combined in ratings. Overall quality is a blow out in Marvel's favor. At this point Marvel TV is the #1 watched TV franchise period. Add to that all of Marvel's current and future shows will be in the same universe spanning over various pay for TV channels and streaming services and it's clear unless DC steps up there game big time it's over.
TV Cartoons: DC in the past had some of the best. But now...man. I guess DC is going over board with there new FUN, FUN, FUN business mandate. Justice League: Action, Teen Tians GO and the CGI Batman cartoon are all to kiddie to enjoy. Not saying Marvel's current slate are the best ever but I actually do enjoy there shared universe connected series. While I've never seen Teen Titans GO and i'm sure it'll be the same with Justice League: Action.
Comics will always be Marvel in sales. Rebirth gave DC a small spike but that's just it. a small spike. DC hasn't beat Marvel in 15 years in comic sales and they won't beat them now. The first month of Rebirth they won by 1% dollar share. second month 9%. third, 5%. That's not really a lot. Up until Rebirth Marvel on average has beatin DC by 15-20% dollar share for 15 years! Not only that but DC hasn't even really won those months. The Rebirth returnable comics causes DC's numbers to appear over inflated. Diamond is counting what retailers ordered not what customers bought. Retailers are ordering mass quantities making sure they don't run out without fear of being stuck with large amounts of back stock because they can return them all in later months. And there dirt cheap. Marvels percentage, on paper is lower but there doing good as they always have done.
As of now(September 2016) for the year of 2016 Marvel is at 337% dollar share. DC is at 264% percent. Which means even if DC hits there highest monthly percent of Rebirth over Marvel which is 9% for the last three months of 2016 there still gonna lose for the year by about 50% dollar share. Marvel wins for 16 years in a row. Basically it's impossible for DC to win 2016 at this point. And the true win is actually worse than that because the returnable Rebirth titles makes DC's numbers look over inflated.
Comic sales is really a blow out in Marvels favor. Than after that it's down to preference.
Video Games: I've always thought of this as a tie. Due to DC having one really great game(Arkham series) and Marvel having more decent games overall. Some could make an argument for Injustice I guess. But after that for every DC game Marvel has a counter part. The Lego games, MMOs with most thinking Marvel Heroes is better, both are getting a Telltale series etc.. But here's where things get interesting. Marvel just launched the new Marvel Games division and immediately announced there answer to the Arkham series, the AAA, PS4 Spider-man title developed by Insomniac. Marvel is currently shopping it's IPs around to third party developers. They promised to announce more titles before the years end. In other words DC better step it's game up significantly or get left behind.
DVD animation: well DC pretty handedly. Marvel's focus has been elsewhere for the most part. DC wins by omission.
Is it even possible for DC to catch back up at this point? And what's the best way to go about doing it?