Lisk vs ethereum is a classic case of delivery on ground and delivery on paper. While evaluating distributed platforms. I believe these are the key indicators one need to look for.
1. Killer App: Does the platform has one killer app which can create a sustainable strategic moat. Think Bitcoin --> payments, Ethereum --> ICO. Lisk does not have one yet they need to find one quickly hype and good PR can take you not very far especially when you are fighting against people who are also good at PR

2. Developer Community: I believe Lisk has invested lot of marketing and communication in building a positioning around a developer-friendly JS platform they need to know quickly deliver on real developer engagement and as they say proof of the pudding is in eating, we need to see Lisk dapps very quickly.
I guess we need to see some of the promises with differential sidechain architecture delivered. As far as ethereum they also have problems of their own, so competitors will have opportunities provided they can grab them.
Source:
https://blog.sipacoin.com/lisk-vs-ethereum/