Why Not Ynet? New News From Israel

From Israel comes news from Alan Abbey, who’s moved from the Internet edition of the Jerusalem Post (an English-language daily) to become managing director of the upcoming English-language web edition of Israel’s largest newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth (Hebrew-language). Ynet.co.il is a 4-year-old site (in Hebrew) with an independent news reporting and editing team assigned to produce news 24/7. Abbey explains that Ynet is a “pure play” Internet brand producing 90-plus percent of its own content, and “taking only smidgens of the newspaper.” It has a staff of more than 150 for editorial, technology, and business functions. Monthly unique visitors currently number around 2 million. Alas, neither Ynet nor Yedioth Ahronoth have much brand recognition in the U.S., though Abbey hopes to change that with the launch of the English-language edition.

But Abbey faces a problem, and he’d like our collective help, dear E-Media Tidbits readers. The Ynet.com domain name is taken (by a Chinese company), so the question is how best to brand Ynet for an American audience. Would Ynet or Yedioth Ahronoth Online have any resonance outside Israel? E-mail Abbey if you have some advice. And watch for the English site to go live later this summer.