Beyond impressions: Why effectiveness goes well beyond attention

Most ads today are seen, but very few are remembered.

For years, attention has been treated as the gold standard in digital advertising. If an ad appeared on screen and held someone’s gaze for a few seconds, it was considered a job well done, but marketers know that is only part of the story.

In a landscape shaped by endless scrolls and fragmented screens, attention without emotion rarely translates into memory. That gap between being seen and being remembered is increasingly pushing the industry to ask a tougher question: what actually makes advertising effective?

It is this question that Gameloft for brands explores in its “Attention and emotion in play” white paper, developed with Mediamento and ActFuture.

The research argues that attention is only the starting point. To create a lasting impact, brands need to pair attention with emotional engagement which can then drive significantly stronger outcomes such as a whopping 35% brand affinity, and almost 25% more ad recall. Purchase intent can also increase by 12.8% versus pre-roll video formats should the right factors come into play.

To explore this relationship, the study combines eye-tracking and biometric analysis to measure not only what users see, but also what they feel and ultimately remember.

The battle for attention

In Southeast Asia and ANZ, audiences move fluidly across multiple platforms. They bounce from TikTok to YouTube, reply to WhatsApp messages, scroll Instagram and jump into a game, all within a short span of time. In this environment, the challenge is no longer simply capturing attention. It is creating moments that leave a lasting imprint.

According to Statista and Dentsu data, the APAC advertising market is expected to reach US$424.7 billion in 2026, with digital channels continuing to dominate overall media spend. Within this landscape, in-game advertising is projected to generate US$62.9 billion in revenue, positioning gaming as one of the region’s largest and fastest-growing digital media environments.

While TV and video will remain the biggest advertising segment overall, gaming is rapidly strengthening its strategic role thanks to the convergence of entertainment, mobile consumption, and highly engaging interactive experiences, particularly across key markets such as China, Japan, and India.

Why attention alone is no longer enough

We all know of those ads that look great, but leave limited impact on the consumer. While some might be inclined to simply say marketers are playing it safe, the issue goes much deeper. For starters, media consumption which is becoming increasingly fragmented and non-linear, is causing ads to be rendered ineffective.

But all is not lost. Areas such as gaming tackle this head on. Unlike passive media environments, gaming creates sustained and intentional attention driven by active participation rather than passive viewing.

“Players are actively involved, not simply exposed, resulting in up to 30% higher attentive exposure compared to traditional digital media,” said Florent Vallauri, senior managing director APAC at Gameloft for brands.

Beyond attention, emotion also plays a big role in gaming. Behavioural science and neuroscience research consistently show that emotions play a critical role in memory formation and decision-making – influencing not only what people notice, but what they ultimately remember.

As such, the true challenge for brands is not in capturing attention, but in creating experiences that audiences genuinely retain.

(Source: Data taken from “Attention and emotion in play” white paper)

Why gaming changes the equation

Gaming works differently from most digital media environments.

Players are not sitting back and consuming content. They are actively participating by competing, solving problems, making decisions and progressing through structured experiences. This creates a deeper form of attention that is sustained and intentional.

In Southeast Asia, gaming has become a daily habit for millions of people. The region had an estimated 277 to 290 million gamers in 2025, making it one of the largest gaming audiences globally.

“In SEAP, mobile gaming is one of the few digital activities used every day, often multiple times,” Vallauri said. “In ANZ, gaming cuts across evenings, shared household time, and solo downtime.”

This shifts gaming away from passive, scroll-based or skippable media environments where attention is briefly captured and quickly lost, and instead positions it as a habitual behaviour, closer to messaging or social platforms than traditional advertising environments.

This gives brands an opportunity to do more than interrupt attention; they become part of the experience itself and spark credibility with the player. This can take shape through playable challenges similar to those seen in titles such as Asphalt Legends, alongside reward-based systems that offer in-game currency, upgrades or progression incentives in exchange for continued play or interaction.

It can also extend to sponsored, time-limited in-game events or immersive, branded placements with custom, high-impact, and strong PR-able value to support the campaign or product launch.

One such example was Hyundai Motor Company’s “Electric Race” in partnership with Asphalt Legends. The time-limited in-game activation and new-car integration were designed to position the automaker as an innovator in electrification and provide an innovative branded gaming experience for its players.

The experience invited players to compete in electric-themed races within the game, with top performers rewarded with real-world incentives, including a trip to South Korea and the opportunity to experience Hyundai vehicles on a real-track, effectively linking in-game performances with tangible brand engagement.

Where emotion comes in

Gaming is emotional by design. Every session is filled with moments of anticipation, frustration, competition and reward. Furthermore, the emotions are not layered on top of the experience, but rather are built into it.

“Video games are the only digital medium where emotion is not simply observed – it is lived with deepened cultural integration. Players experience challenge, reward and achievement in real time,” Vallauri said.

This is redefining how effectiveness is measured, not as attention alone, but as the interaction between attention and emotion.

As Vallauri notes, gaming is no longer experimental: “With scale, structure, and proven effectiveness, gaming has evolved beyond experimentation. It is now a channel that can be confidently integrated alongside video, social, and display in modern media strategies.”

(Source: Data taken from “Attention and emotion in play” white paper)

A shift in how media systems are being built

This shift is also reflected in ecosystems such as COMBO!, which enables brands to activate across gaming environments at scale. It reaches up to 1.3 billion monthly active users globally and delivers stronger attention, recall and emotional engagement outcomes versus traditional digital formats.

According to the company, campaigns delivered through the platform can generate up to 92% sustained attention, alongside higher brand recall, consideration and purchase intent compared to standard digital media.

Yet despite gaming’s scale, many marketers across Southeast Asia and ANZ still underuse it.

That is beginning to change. As media becomes more fragmented and competitive, marketers are moving beyond surface-level metrics and looking more closely at what people remember, because being seen is the first step.

The real challenge is no longer reach. It is creating attention that people actually retain because while attention may open the door, emotion decides what stays once it closes.

And in an increasingly distracted world, that staying power may be the clearest measurement of effectiveness.

More findings, case studies, and research insights are explored in Gameloft for brands’ “Attention and emotion in play” white paper. Download it here.