Although online advertising is more flexible than print, and Internet ad budgets are unlikely to plunge as much as budgets across other media, the Internet should not be viewed as completely shielded from difficult times, said Demian Kudryavcev, the head of prominent Russian publishing house Kommersant, Sostav.ru reported Monday.

Internet sources may adapt more willingly to the advertising company and may take greater lengths to change in order to gather more revenue, he added. The answer to the problem may be content that is adapted to both advertisers' and outlets' audiences.

The Kommerrsant head appealed to advertisers to not support "piracy" and "robbery," meaning they should not agree to ventures with Web sites that steal news material from other sources, even if it may be cheaper to do so, according to Sostav.ru.

"I demand that during the current financial crisis, when certain resources need to spend large sums of money to create original content, that the industry unites and halts its support of those resources that steal this content," Kudryavcev said.

There are news outlets that require the maximum audience targeting available as well as those which need to fund video production projects and journalistic missions, Kudryavcev said, adding that importance should be placed on advertising clients, not ad companies, according to Sostav.ru.

In addition, Kudryavcev said a stop must be put to the high commission rates advertising companies demand, which result in the revenue reaching neither the client nor the media outlet, Sostav.ru reported.