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.

“NBC Nightly News” recently rolled out some snazzy new 3D full screen graphics that are used when presenting numeric data and lists of information. The fully animated graphics are slightly darker than the rest of Nightly’s graphics, but seem to be very versatile in what they can be used for.

The graphics mark a major change from NBC’s longtime full screen look of simple black and gray boxes.

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