Ad dollars are shifting to programmatic channels. Ad blocking is on the rise. In an increasingly converging media landscape, everyone is your competition. But in this week’s episode of The Digiday Podcast, longtime consultant Wenda Harris Millard, president and COO of MediaLink, sees much to be hopeful about. Marketers are beginning to see the benefits of intelligent use of data. Programmatic can increase publisher CPMs. And while she’s concerned about ad blocking, she thinks it ultimately will result in fewer, better ads.

The past few months have been dizzying for big digital media upstarts, with BuzzFeed and Vox Media earning sky-high valuations and, just this week, Business Insider selling to Axel Springer in a deal valuing BI at near $450 million. They represent some amount of panic by traditional media companies behind all three deals, but they also represent a vindication for the early wave of digital media companies that had legions of doubters, according to Bryan Goldberg, co-founder of Bleacher Report and founder of millennial women’s site Bustle.

On this week’s Digiday Podcast, Cindy Gallop, entrepreneur and activist, discusses how to make change happen in the ad industry. Gallop, who consults agencies on changing processes, said often it’s the people at the top hampering change. White men who run holding companies have “zero interest” in reinventing advertising. They also have little interest in bringing more diversity to the industry. Gallop also said that women need to be hired in greater number if change is going to happen.

Marketers are suffering from an identity crisis, struggling to cope with the rapid changes in digital media and wonder if they (and their partners) are still relevant. Publicis Groupe chief strategist Rishad Tobaccowala sees this malaise behind the recent spate of giant media reviews, which are wrestling with issues beyond simply how to get more value from their media spending.

News publishers need to adopt a product mindset, according to Washington Post CIO Shailesh Prakash, which means starting from the question of what user need is being addressed — and then sweating all the small details in design, ease of use and speed that going into meeting that need.

Salon’s a vestige of a Web era long gone. It was launched in 1995 and has had money concerns ever since. But it has attempted a turnaround in recent years by focusing on a broader range of coverage, tech and mobile. Leading the charge is CEO (and CTO) Cindy Jeffers, who has injected more tech into Salon’s editorial. “Tech has been a key part of building the business over the past few years,” she said on this week’s Digiday Podcast.

Techmeme is a good case study in how utility and influence can result in real staying power. The site, founded in 2005, has somehow managed to remain a must-read in tech circles despite the rapid rise of Twitter. Gabe Rivera, Techmeme’s founder, said that Techmeme’s power is in its ability to find, filter and present news all around the Web. Unlike most publishers today, it’s managed to remain a destination.

This week's guest on the Digiday Podcast is creative chairman of Droga5, David Droga. Droga, who leads the indie agency network that has grown to over 400 employees, is obsessed with figuring out how creativity can live in the digital space. The problem, he told Digiday, is that agencies get caught up in trying to be innovative because they feel they have to. "Just because an option exists doesn’t mean you have to do it," he said.

Publishers are not doing enough to adapt to the mobile era. The biggest mistake, Breaking News gm Cory Bergman says, is not investing enough in mobile talent — and not allowing for the inevitable mistakes in trying to figure out what works. Instead, there’s a propensity for publishers to underestimate the effort mobile will take, preferring instead to treat it as just another distribution channel for existing content.

Katrina Craigwell, GE's director of global content and programming, discusses how the brand finds the right platforms and cultural moments for engaging with its fans, driven by its vibrant creative and entrepreneurial culture, on this week’s episode of the Digiday Podcast. She also talks about how GE emphasizes on partnering with the right partners for different content, and why influencers are important assets for brands. "As traditional brand marketers, we get a little hung up," she said.