MSNBC.com recently began running a rectangle ad on the site homepage that showcases the individually-branded sites of Countdown, Nightly News, Scoop, Today, NBC Sports and recently-acquired Newsvine.

The ad allows users to click arrow buttons on either side of the container to show the next site screen shot, which appears after a quick transition effect.

This is a creative way to promote sites, but also runs the risk of being tuned out since it’s in the same position as regular ads normally are.

This also marks one of the first times MSNBC has promoted Newsvine. MSNBC has been linking to conversations and topic pages on Newsvine for select stories, but this marks one of the most prominent cross promotions.

“Countdown,” one of MSNBC’s most popular programs, has debuted its own standalone site.

Earlier this year, NewscastStudio had speculated which MSNBC or NBC property would be next to get a branded site, though our guess was “Meet the Press.” However, it seems logical that with Countdown’s increasing popularity (it recently scored MSNBC a first-place demo win for the first time in years) would make it the next to get a makeover.

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