To a degree, it is similar to how Warner Brothers has always used DC. The WB, honestly, doesn't give a **** about what DC does in it's comics. I mean, they KILLED Bruce Wayne for a year or so. They have Dick Grayson as Batman now. Virtually every minority legacy hero has been killed or retired and re-replaced with their original mantle user. And of course, we still have no end of graphically violent stuff, as well as Arsenal and his dead cat. However, WB will utilize some DC talent for other projects, such as perhaps drawing for ads or whatnot, and use their comics to promote WB films. This doesn't hurt DC, as it nets them ad revenue. The WB also has several networks and uses DC for ore to create TV shows, whether animated or live action, which naturally sell commercial time, merchandise, and DVD's. You think WB/DC hasn't made a mint on "SMALLVILLE"? Why else has it lasted ten seasons? STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION didn't even last ten seasons.
Disney I see as using Marvel in the same way. Disney doesn't care about comics; they don't really publish comics in North America and have even trimmed back on magazines. If anything, Marvel have been MORE eager to stretch every name brand and franchise to their limit with 5,000 secondary, tertiary, and spin-off titles ever since the deal with Disney was announced last year. If Disney did care about comics, they might have told Marvel to knock it off with all the glut of Thor/Wolverine/Deadpool/Iron Man stuff by now, but they don't because they see it as promoting other things that Disney DOES care about. If an ad for TRON or TANGLED is in a comic that has a readership of even, say, 15,000 people (which is cancellation range), that still is 15,000 people who know about it, or are exposed to the ad.
Disney seems to care more about Marvel's film and TV slate. Much like with DC, the alliance with Disney gives Marvel network options, which before they never had (often having to go hat-in-hand to networks owned by competitors, like Cartoon Network or Kid's WB). Now, Marvel can air shows as they want on ABC or DISNEY XD and so on. Disney wants to see Marvel do more live action shows, since Disney has been making a killing on cheaply produced live action sitcoms for tweens for years. They also want to reap film revenue, which is why they paid Paramount $114 million for the distribution rights to "THE AVENGERS" in 2012 and the inevitable "IRON MAN 3" in 2013. And naturally any Marvel film after will be distributed by Disney or a company they own. Disney also reaps and makes cash with Marvel merch. I mean, when was the last time Mickey Mouse was in a cartoon? Almost never. But how much does his merchandise earn in a day? Likely millions, if not hundreds of millions, worldwide, every year. Comics are small fish to Disney, and to be honest they're smaller fish to Marvel; last time I looked at a profit diagram, only about 40% of Marvel's revenue these days comes from comics, and that may be a high estimate. The remaining 60+% comes from revenue from merchandise and other media.
