The tough economy appears to be taking a toll on the nation's largest video mail order service.

According to Bloomberg.com, Netflix announced Monday that about 8.672 million people subscribed to the service in the third quarter, falling short of the forecast of 8.675 million to 8.875 million people as consumers have tightened spending habits.

Netflix said in its announcement that it suffered an "unusually weak" August.

As a result of Monday's announcement, Netflix dropped 13 percent in Nasdaq trading, Bloomberg said.

An analyst with Minneapolis-based investment firm Piper Jaffray & Co. told Bloomberg that investor worries may have something to do with the loss of market share due to stiff competition from rival renters Blockbuster, Apple and Amazon.com.

"There is always kind of a group of investors foaming at the mouth, waiting for something bad to happen on Netflix," Michael Olson told Bloomberg Monday. "Our take is this is a buying opportunity.''

Netflix's online-based subscription service offers it scustomers over 100,000 video titles to choose from and charges no late fees. It also offers about 12,000 titles subscribers can download online.

The Web site reported that Netflix has adjusted its year-end projections for subscriber growth from 9.7 million to 9.25 million by the end of the year.

The video rental giant also adjusted its fourth quarter revenue projections in the $353 million to $359 million range, down from earlier projections of $357 million to $369 million.

The company employs about 1,900 people at its corporate headquarters in California and service centers nationwide.