MUMBAI: AnyMind Group and InQognito Insights have unveiled “Beyond Panels,” a pioneering cross-regional study that’s reshaping how marketers in Southeast Asia, India, and the GCC understand digital consumers. The research, presented at ESOMAR Trends Horizon 2025 in Washington D.C., dives into how in-game advertising environments can unlock richer, faster, and more authentic consumer insights.
Breaking away from traditional research panels and static questionnaires, Beyond Panels takes a behavioural-first approach, embedding research directly within mobile gaming ecosystems. Conducted using the POKKT mobile gaming platform, the study tracked 25,000 participants across eight markets between April 2024 and August 2025, using rewarded ads, in-app intercepts, and post-game surveys to capture responses in real time.
The findings reveal a clear shift in how consumers discover and engage with brands. In Southeast Asia, 62 per cent of respondents reported their first brand exposure through in-game ads, surpassing even OTT and YouTube. Ads delivered within a week before decision windows saw a 64 percent lift in brand recall and consideration, while the combined use of in-game ads, YouTube, and influencer videos achieved 51 per cent reach with just four exposures, proving that attention, when captured in the right moment, can be incredibly powerful.
Speaking about the research, AnyMind Group managing director, growth markets Aditya Aima said, “In a world where attention is fleeting and fragmented, marketers can no longer rely on retrospective panels. This study is a call to evolve, from measuring after the fact to understanding behaviour as it unfolds in natural, immersive environments.”
Echoing the sentiment, InQognito Insights research lead Smriti Singh Bhatia noted, “Traditional panels are like rear-view mirrors, they show us where we’ve been, not where the consumer is going. The era of claimed behaviour is over; it’s time to study consumers as they live, scroll, play, and shop.”
By grounding research in the spaces where people actually spend their time, Beyond Panels signals a new era of real-time, context-rich consumer understanding. In today’s mobile-first world, insight, it seems, is no longer found in forms, it’s found in the game.