Money Minute: Some Ads Found To Be More Irksome Than Others

We're bombarded by all kinds of advertisements every day, but some are way more annoying than others.

A survey by Consumer Reports found 77 percent of Americans are particularly irked by robocalls. Also high on the list of what the magazine call "adgravation" are false claims that you've won something, fake bills that look real, pop-up ads on websites, and exaggerated ads for medical remedies. Consumer Reports also notes that people past the age of 60 are more annoyed by these ads than younger people.

Americans also love to hate their cable companies. A separate survey by the American Customer Service Index shows our opinion of cable and Internet providers fell from the already low levels of a year ago. Part of the problem is that prices have been rising faster than the rate of inflation. Time Warner Cable (TWC) received the lowest scores, and Verizon's (VZ) FiOS service dropped the most. AT&T's (T) U-verse and DirecTV (DTV) had the best ratings.

%VIRTUAL-article-sponsoredlinks%For the second time in a week, a major restaurant chain has been sold. TGI Fridays was acquired by a pair of private-equity firms for a reported price of $800 million. This comes just a week after Darden Restaurants (DRI) sold its Red Lobster chain for more than $2 billion. These chains, and others in the middle tier known as casual dining, have been squeezed in recent years. Customer traffic has declined for five straight years.

Here on Wall Street on Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) slid 137 points, the Standard & Poor's 500 index (^GPSC) fell 12 and the Nasdaq composite (^IXIC) lost 29 points.

Finally, the NBC peacock finally has something to strut about. The network says it will finish the current season as the leading broadcast network among the highly sought after 18-to-49 year old demographic group. It's a big win for NBC (CMCSA) after languishing in fourth place for nearly a decade. The improvement was led by the Winter Olympics, as well as Sunday Night Football and shows like "The Voice." CBS (CBS) retained its status for the most total viewers.

-Produced by Drew Trachtenberg.