Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has unleashed a series of advertising-related moves the past few days, including a major new hire, a new ad tool and the expanding of its AdSense program to mobile. On Thursday, Google released the results of an online promotional campaign on behalf of the NBC show Heroes that it claims exposure to online display ads increased online viewership in all segments by 400 percent.

In a telephone interview, Adam Stewart, Google’s industry director of media and entertainment, and Laela Sturdy, industry marketing manager for entertainment, described its work on a display campaign designed to drive interest in the show after it had taken a five-week break. Using the hundreds of thousands of sites within Google’s Content Network, Google ran a display ad campaign targeted towards general TV viewers, fans of the show and Sci-fi enthusiasts. Google divided users into two sample groups comprised of 1,000 individuals aged under-35 and over-35. The ages were then mixed into one set that saw the ads and another set that didn’t. ComScore (NSDQ: SCOR) was chosen to execute the study, which ultimately measured clickstream data on 15,000 individuals who saw the display ad, which consisted of a short video clip from the show. The Google test groups were then matched to the comScore panelists based on a range of demographic and internet usage.

Some of the findings included:

-- Boost in Unaided Awareness: The group that was exposed to Google ads were 60 percent more likely to mention Heroes when asked what shows they are aware of, when compared with the group that did not see the ad.

-- Relationship Between Display and Search: Google divided the types of searches related to show in terms of branded search (e.g., a catchphrase like “Save the cheerleader, save the world...") and trademark search (e.g., “NBC Heroes”). People who viewed the ad were 114 percent more likely to use a brand search and 95 percent more likely to do a trademark search, when compared with the group that wasn’t exposed to the campaign.

-- Website Visitation and Driving Offline Viewing: Those who saw the ads were 140 percent more likely to visits the Heroes website. And for the under-35 testers, Stewart noted, there was no difference between either group in terms who was more apt to watch the show on TV. Google display ads also drove referrals; under-35’s were 50 percent more likely to recommend Heroes to their friends and family after seeing the Google ad.. “While the younger demo certainly watched the episodes online in greater proportions, the study also tells us that they didn’t abandon live TV viewing either,” Stewart said. “And the online campaign contributed to that and help spike those numbers offline as well.”

-- Web Search Less Vulnerable To Ad Downturn: Separately, with mortgage lenders likely to cut back ad spending as a result of the subprime credit crisis, Google executives insisted that search ads will be last place spending is reduced, Reuters reported. On average, mortgage advertisers each spent average $3.5 million apiece on search ads on Google in in Q1, versus $1.9 million a year earlier. “Every single day that somebody is looking for a mortgage ... these campaigns from these financial customers are on 24-7, 365 days a year,” Tim Armstrong, president of Google’s North American advertising division, was quoted as saying. He also reiterated Google stance that, despite the additional ad services, it was not going into the agency business.

• Google Creates Creative Lab; Taps Ogilvy & Mather’s Berndt To Lead It; Launches Widget Ads
• Google Broadens AdSense Program To Mobile Sites