The battle for streaming TV ad dollars is growing internationally

Hi! Welcome to the Insider Advertising daily for August 18. I'm Lauren Johnson, a senior advertising reporter at Business Insider. Subscribe here to get this newsletter in your inbox every weekday. Send me feedback or tips at ljohnson@businessinsider.com

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Today's news: Spanish-language streaming service Vix vies for OTT ad dollars, Pizza Hut closes up to 300 locations, and influencers' most popular Instagram topics.

Spanish-language streaming service Vix explains the challenges of expanding the AVOD market internationally and how it plans to grow revenue 40% in 2020

• Ashley Rodriguez reported that Spanish-language streaming company Vix launched in Brazil last week and is vying for a piece of the growing advertising video-on-demand market.
• Vix is competing against other ad-supported video services like Pluto TV and Tubi that are expanding internationally.
• Vix said it was on track to hit 10 million app installs and wants to build a direct sales team to sell advertising packages.

Read the full story here.

Up to 300 Pizza Hut locations are set to close in the aftermath of the chain's largest franchisee filing for bankruptcy

• NPC International, Pizza Hut's largest franchisee, said that it would close up to 300 locations after filing for bankruptcy in early July, reported Kate Taylor.
• The franchisee also plans to sell its Pizza Hut locations, which make up 20% of the company's total locations.
• In its Chapter 11 filing, NPC International said that the coronavirus provided some relief as pizza sales have increased but cited expensive safety measures that cost the company about $750,000 per month.

Read the full story here.

The 10 Instagram content topics that have surged most among influencers during the pandemic, from insurance to recipes

• Data from social media-marketing firm SocialBakers tracked the categories of influencer content that have increased and decreased the most during the pandemic, reported Sydney Bradley.
• The data tracked the content of 8 million Instagram influencers between March and August.
• Content about insurance increased the most while party content decreased the most, per SocialBakers' findings.

Read the full story here.

More stories we're reading:

• Pet sales and adoptions are booming amid the pandemic. Petco is trying to capitalize on the growth by sponsoring a content vertical with The Dodo (Business Insider)
• TikTok's in-house music team explains the levers it pulls to help artists and songs blow up on the app (Business Insider)
• Trump's attack on TikTok is setting off alarm bells in Silicon Valley (Business Insider)
• Diageo to buy Ryan Reynolds's gin, other brands for up to $610 million (Wall Street Journal)
• Bots kept winning T-Mobile's promotional contests and sparked a Reddit whodunit — here's how it may have happened (CNBC)

Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow! You can reach me in the meantime at ljohnson@businessinsider.com and subscribe to this daily email here.

— Lauren