Western Union Co. said Wednesday that it has introduced a service in nine developing countries that lets Web site publishers using a Google Inc. ad-placement program receive cash payment from advertisers.
Google's AdSense matches Web sites with advertisers according to the content on the sites; the advertisers pay the publishers through Google for each time someone clicks on an ad.
Before Western Union got involved, the Web site publishers could only receive payments using electronic funds transfer or by paper check.
Now publishers in Argentina, Chile, mainland China, Colombia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, and Romania can receive payment in cash at Western Union locations.
The Englewood, Colo., company said the arrangement allows the publishers to avoid bank and currency conversion fees. The funds are typically available the day they are sent, are always available in U.S. dollars, and in most cases are also available in the local currency, it said.
"We believe it's an advantage, because in the nine countries where we are providing this service we are a far quicker, more reliable option than the checks they are issuing in California and putting in the mail," said David Shapiro, the senior vice president of marketing for Western Union's payment services.
The partnership with Google, which began in September after pilot testing earlier in the year, has already proved successful, Mr. Shapiro said.
Western Union plans to expand it to 20 additional countries next quarter, he said. He would not say how much the program had grown or specify where Google and Western Union planned to expand.
Gwenn Bezard, a research director at Aite Group LLC in Boston, said the service would likely be faster and more reliable than payment by mail.
"We are used to a very reliable postal service in the U.S.," Mr. Bezard said, "but outside of the U.S. you have lots of variation in terms of error rates and mail that gets lost."
With the exception of PayPal Inc., an eBay Inc. unit that offers a similar service to Google Checkout, "the Western Union transfer is far superior to whatever you have out there," Mr. Bezard said.
AdSense revenues can range from millions of dollars a year to virtually nothing, depending on the popularity of a publisher's Web site.
Western Union said it charges Google a bulk corporate rate for the service.
It was not clear whether Google passes any of those costs on to the Web site publishers; the Mountain View, Calif., company did not return calls and e-mails seeking comment. Western Union said it does not charge the individual Web site publishers anything.
The partnership received qualified praise from one of Western Union's toughest critics.
Francis Calpotura, the director of the Transnational Institute for Grassroots Research and Action in Oakland, Calif., said Western Union and Google had "displayed creativity in meeting the financial needs of advertisers."
But it has not "displayed the same creativity and willingness to support communities they benefit from for the lion's share of their business," Mr. Calpotura said — mostly immigrants sending cash to family members in their home countries.
