Mixing of media content items for display on a focus area of a network-connected television device

A server system, wherein the server system hosts a virtual user domain including a user account, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• memory having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by one or more processors cause the processors to implement operations for:
• associating the user account with a unified TV application and a plurality of media player applications, wherein the unified TV application is associated with a network-connected TV device and is configured to enable display of media content on the TV device, and each of the plurality of media player applications is configured to display media content provided by a respective content provider;
• executing the unified TV application to enable display of a unified user interface on the network-connected TV device, wherein the unified user interface has a focus area that is located at a top portion of the unified user interface and that is configured to display a plurality of focus items, wherein each of the plurality of focus items sequentially occupies an entirety of the focus area when displayed, and wherein the focus area expands to partially overlap a subset of selectable information items included in the unified user interface;
• selecting the plurality of focus items based on user activity characteristics of a plurality of users in the virtual user domain hosted by the server system, wherein the plurality of focus items are filtered from a plurality of content items according to entitlement information that indicates whether the user account is entitled to media content provided by media content sources via the plurality of media player applications, and wherein the entitlement information is automatically extracted from each of the plurality of media player applications;
• and
• displaying the plurality of focus items in the focus area sequentially according to a temporal order in which a first focus item from the plurality of focus items is replaced with a second focus item from the plurality of focus items after an end of a particular time period, wherein each focus item is associated with a respective focus item provider selected from a merchandising module, an advertiser, and a media recommendation engine, including:
• sending to a first advertiser server a request for the first focus item, the request including information of a plurality of predefined user interface elements of the focus area of the unified user interface;
• and
• in response to the request, receiving from the first advertiser server a plurality of media content items associated with the first focus item and consolidating the plurality of media content items to the first focus item in the unified user interface to be displayed during a time slot corresponding to the first focus item.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium, having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to implement operations for, at a server system hosting a virtual user domain including a user account:

• associating the user account with a unified TV application and a plurality of media player applications, wherein the unified TV application is associated with a network-connected TV device and is configured to enable display of media content on the network-connected TV device, and each of the plurality of media player applications is configured to display media content provided by a respective content provider;
• executing the unified TV application to enable display of a unified user interface on the network-connected TV device, wherein the unified user interface has a focus area that is located at a top portion of the unified user interface and that is configured to display a plurality of focus items, wherein each of the plurality of focus items sequentially occupies an entirety of the focus area when displayed, and wherein the focus area expands to partially overlap a subset of selectable information items included in the unified user interface;
• selecting the plurality of focus items based on user activity characteristics of a plurality of users in the virtual user domain hosted by the server system, wherein the plurality of focus items are filtered from a plurality of content items according to entitlement information that indicates whether the user account is entitled to media content provided by media content sources via the plurality of media player applications, and wherein the entitlement information is automatically extracted from each of the plurality of media player applications;
• and
• displaying the plurality of focus items in the focus area sequentially according to a temporal order in which a first focus item from the plurality of focus items is replaced with a second focus item from the plurality of focus items after an end of a particular time period, wherein each focus item is associated with a respective focus item provider selected from a merchandising module, an advertiser, and a media recommendation engine, including:
• sending to a first advertiser server a request for the first focus item, the request including information of a plurality of predefined user interface elements of the focus area of the unified user interface;
• and
• in response to the request, receiving from the first advertiser server a plurality of media content items associated with the first focus item and consolidating the plurality of media content items to the first focus item in the unified user interface to be displayed during a time slot corresponding to the first focus item.