![Attention is Becoming Gaming's Most Valuable Currency [with Mohammed Dayoub]](https://i0.wp.com/65.1.178.54/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Exclusive-interview-with-Mohammed-Dayoub.png)
Getting players to see an ad is only step one. Getting them to care is becoming much harder.
After spending more than a decade building and scaling games that have reached over 250 million downloads, Mohammed Dayoub has watched a major shift happen across mobile gaming. The industry became incredibly good at delivering ads, but not necessarily at earning attention.
Players still watch rewarded videos. They still open games and interact with content. But many cannot remember what they saw just minutes later.
In this discussion with Mohammed Dayoub, we try to understand how attention became more valuable than ever.
The Attention Problem Isn’t About Ads. It’s About Choice.
Players now move constantly between games, social platforms, short-form videos, messaging apps, and countless other forms of content.
At the same time, AI has made it easier than ever for companies to create more campaigns, more creatives, and more advertising variations.
There is more content competing for the same amount of attention.
“The biggest challenge today is no longer creating content. It’s earning a small piece of a player’s limited attention.”
For publishers and gaming studios, this means user acquisition and monetization strategies can no longer rely on exposure alone. Every impression now has to fight harder to become meaningful engagement.
Attention is More Than Impressions and Clicks
Most monetization dashboards focus on measurable metrics:
- Impressions
- Click-through rates
- Video completions
- Conversion events
But Dayoub believes these numbers only tell part of the story.
“Attention is when a player chooses to invest time and effort into something.”
A player exploring a challenge, completing a mission, returning to participate again, or remembering an experience days later often says more than a simple click ever could.
The Metric We Don’t Measure Enough: Recall
If players remember something several days after interacting with it, whether it is a game mechanic, an event, or even a brand message, then their attention was genuine.
An ad that generates a million impressions but leaves no lasting memory may create far less value than a smaller campaign that players actively remember and engage with.
Key Takeaway
The easiest metrics to measure are not always the most meaningful ones. Studios should increasingly look at:
- Time spent
- Return participation
- Challenge completion
- Brand recall
- Meaningful actions after engagement
When Attention Drops, Monetization Eventually Follows
Players do not suddenly uninstall a game because of one bad experience. Instead, they slowly stop caring.
“You start seeing shorter sessions, lower engagement, fewer completed activities, and eventually weaker retention.”
These signals often appear long before revenue starts declining. For gaming companies, attention should be viewed as a leading indicator of product health.
The Pattern Usually Looks Like This:
- Lower session lengths
- Reduced event participation
- Declining retention
- Fewer monetization opportunities
- Revenue slowdown
The Two Biggest Monetization Mistakes Studios Make
1. Monetizing Before Understanding Player Motivation
Not every player plays for the same reason. Some are driven by:
- Progression
- Competition
- Collection
- Achievement
- Rewards
- Exploration
Building monetization systems without understanding these motivations often leads to weaker engagement.
For example, a highly competitive player may respond to exclusive status rewards, while an explorer may engage more with discovery-based experiences.
2. Assuming Visibility Creates Value
A campaign can generate millions of impressions and still have little impact.
“A player may watch a rewarded video and forget it a minute later.”
On paper, it looks successful. In reality, it may have created zero lasting value.
This is why Dayoub believes brands should stop treating impressions as the end goal.
“Players don’t hate brands. They hate interruptions that don’t create value.”
Why Participation Beats Passive Advertising
“A passive ad is something that happens to the player. Participation is something the player chooses.”
When players:
- Complete challenges
- Discover rewards
- Explore products
- Solve missions
- Unlock experiences
The brand becomes part of the gameplay instead of interrupting it.
What makes players choose to engage with something?
According to Dayoub, it is the same thing that makes people play games in the first place:
- Curiosity
- Discovery
- Progress
- Competition
- Rewards
“If it feels like an ad, they’ll usually ignore it. But if it feels like a challenge, an opportunity, or a mission, they’ll naturally engage.”
Imagine asking a player to:
- Discover a feature inside an app
- Find a hidden reward
- Complete a simple challenge
- Explore a product experience
Suddenly, advertising becomes participation.
The Industry is Moving Toward a Participation Economy
As player attention becomes increasingly fragmented, brands may need to rethink what success looks like.
Instead of asking: How many people saw our campaign?
The better question might be: How many people chose to spend time with it?
“The next challenge isn’t producing more content. It’s creating experiences that people genuinely choose to spend time with.”
The brands and developers that succeed over the next few years will likely measure:
- Participation
- Understanding
- Recall
- Meaningful actions
rather than impressions alone.
“Personally, I believe we’re moving from an attention economy to a participation economy.”
What Publishers and Gaming Studios Should Do Next
The fight for player attention is only becoming more competitive.
To stay ahead, gaming companies should:
- Measure engagement beyond impressions and clicks.
- Treat attention as an early indicator of product health.
- Build monetization around player motivations.
- Reduce interruptions that create no value.
- Design branded experiences that feel like gameplay.
- Focus on participation and recall, not just exposure.
About the expert
Mohammed Dayoub
Founder & CEO, AdOnverse
Mohammed Dayoub is a game development and product leader with more than 10 years of experience building and scaling games that have reached over 250 million downloads globally. Today, he is the founder of AdOnverse, exploring gameplay-driven experiences that help brands earn meaningful player attention instead of relying on traditional advertising.
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