New York (AFP)

Netflix announced Monday that it has ordered a fourth season of "Stranger Things", the most successful original series on the online video platform, against a backdrop of heightened competition in streaming.

The subscription video service also announced that it has entered into a multi-year deal with the Duffer brothers (Matt and Ross), creators of "Stranger Things", on series and film projects.

Launched in 2016, "Stranger Things", built entirely as a tribute to the 80s, was an instant hit for Netflix.

The third season, put online in early July, was viewed by 40.7 million people over the first four days, according to Netflix, a record for the platform.

The epilogue of this third season ostensibly left the door open for a sequel.

The platform has posted a mini-trailer on Monday, concluded by the message "We're not in Hawkins anymore" ("We're no longer in Hawkins").

It seems to refer to the fact that, as indicated by the end of the third season, the demogorgons, the monsters of the series, have taken up residence elsewhere than in the small town (imaginary) of Indiana where it all began.

With "Stranger Things", Netflix took a gamble by financing two unrequited brothers who had imagined the story of teenagers in a small American town confronted with supernatural creatures and a parallel universe.

"We can not wait to see what the Duffer brothers have in store when they emerge from the world of the + Upside Down +" (the name of the parallel universe), said Ted Sarandos, content director of Netflix, quoted in a communicated, without further details on their future plans.

To cope with the announced launches of four major streaming platforms in less than a year (Disney, Apple, WarnerMedia and NBCUniversal), Netflix has further accelerated its content production, already considerable.

In addition to the Duffer brothers, he secured the services of Shonda Rhimes ("Gray's Anatomy" and "Scandal"), Ryan Murphy ("Pose" and "The Assassination of Gianni Versace") or Barack and Michelle Obama.

Netflix does not give a figure on the cost of its productions, but each episode of the second season of "Stranger Things" would have cost between six and eight million dollars, according to specialized media.

© 2019 AFP