just curious at what benefits can be brought to the publishers by publishing Google Related Links?

according to google's site, the benefit is that you provide your visitors with an even better browsing experience; there's currently no payment.

The lack of scale is likely part of the marketing mix...they want people to think it is small time.

As Google Base and Google Video add boatloads of content these units will largely replace much of what is the current AdSense ad network.