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.

MSNBC was using a different location for Weather Plus updates at 30 Rock this afternoon. The network had moved away from using the Manhattan studios for weather updates on MSNBC, opting to use WeatherPlus headquarters at CNBC in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. instead.

When weather does originate from New York City, it is typically done from the balcony area, but today Jeff Raineri was reporting from the newsroom floor, with a handheld camera used. Raineri used the desktop computers to control his on-screen graphics as well.

By the way, the cable on the right side of the screen is a nice touch.

UPDATE: About thirty minutes later Raineri was back up on the balcony:

MSNBC.com has rolled out the red carpet on another individually-branded video-based site for gossip column “The Scoop.”

The new design features the now-familiar MSNBC video player with a bold red background. Below, additional headlines are framed in a rather sickening shade of yellow/brown/orange/green — not a great choice (image after the jump).

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