NEW YORK --- Gotta give Gordon Borrell credit. In the face of a horrendous recession in media, he decided to launch a new conference, the Local Online Advertising Conference. And he did it in one of the most expensive cities in the U.S. And he pulled it off.

15-25 percent of online visitors leave videos without watching due to pre-roll ads, says video analytics firm. Results are worst for newspaper and magazine sites

Conventional wisdom is that internet listings will soon kill off print ads, especially in the high volume world of jobs listings. But the latest data from Australia shows that, after plummeting in 2008, the decline in print-based listings may have stalled in 2009.

So far, reaction to Monster’s plan to buy HotJobs from Yahoo has been positive from the ad-publishing community directly affected by the deal—but rather negative from the investment community because of the upfront expense of the acquisition.

For Monster, the deal buys them Yahoo distribution that, by the sheer numbers of it, would catapult it solidly back into first place in terms of traffic. What becomes of HotJobs’ newspaper partners? While Monster agrees to honor that commitment, it’s too soon to guess what publishers will do. So far, though, reaction has been positive. Read more in this clients-only analysis.

Monster Worldwide announces plan to buy HotJobs from Yahoo for $225 million

Despite ownership uncertainty, Canwest moves forward with its auto and jobs verticals, relaunching ‘Driving’ and expanding ‘Working’

Notes and quotes, with some pointed observations, from the Dot-jobs introductory meeting in Indianapolis last week. (Clients-only.)

Dot-jobs rolls out about 25,000 new sites in the U.S. this week, part of a major push to fundamentally change online recruiting. Will it work? Or will it be a bust? In an extensive clients-only post, AIM Group founding principal Peter M. Zollman reviews the product and its potential. 

Apple’s new iPad has me puzzled about a couple of things. First, why would I want one? Second, how is it going to save the newspaper industry?