You’ve Got Their Attention. Now Make It Matter.
For years, the advertising industry has focused on capturing attention through reach, impressions and views. But not all attention is created equal. An ad can be technically seen while someone is waiting for the skip button or distracted by another notification. The impression is delivered, but the connection may not be.
This is the question we explored in our latest white paper, Attention & Emotion in Play: How Gaming is Redefining Advertising Effectiveness, developed by Gameloft for brands in collaboration with the Mediamento Institute and neuroscientist ActFuture. The research looks at how attention and emotion work together, comparing gaming environments with traditional digital video formats.
The findings are clear: gaming generates twice the positive attentive exposure of traditional digital formats, alongside 22.3% higher emotional uplift and 2.2x higher levels of happiness compared with pre-roll video advertising.
And that matters because emotion plays a critical role in what people remember and how they make decisions. In advertising, emotional engagement isn't simply a soft metric, it can turn attention into memory and ultimately action.
Gaming creates a different kind of attention
Unlike many digital environments where people passively consume content, gaming is built around active participation. Players are focused, making decisions, overcoming challenges and responding to what happens in real time. They aren't simply watching an experience. They're part of it.
Our research found that gaming can deliver up to 92% sustained attention in-game, alongside stronger emotional responses than traditional digital video. The study also identified increases of 25% in ad recall, 29% in brand consideration and 24% in purchase intent under the right conditions.
The value of gaming isn't just that audiences are there. It's how they are there.
From interruption to participation
Gaming is no longer a niche environment. In Australia, 82% of people play video games and 94% of households have a gaming device. It reaches across generations, genders and interests and has become part of everyday life.
For brands, this creates opportunities to move beyond simply placing an ad in front of an audience. Rewarded Ads, interactive formats, custom integrations and gamified experiences can give players a reason to engage voluntarily, creating a more positive and memorable brand experience.
Through global ecosystems such as COMBO!, Gameloft for brands' Gaming Media Network, advertisers can reach 1.3 billion players worldwide, combining the scale of modern media with the creativity and engagement that make gaming unique.
Attention gets you noticed. Emotion makes you remembered.
In an increasingly fragmented media landscape, simply being seen is no longer enough. The real opportunity lies in turning attention into something more meaningful: an emotional response, a memory and ultimately an action.
Gaming brings together sustained attention, active participation and emotional engagement in a way few other digital environments can.
Attention may get you noticed. Emotion is what makes people remember. And gaming gives brands the opportunity to deliver both at scale.
This article is a summary of the interview originally published by Mediaweek. You can read the full article here.
