Growth at Google’s YouTube slowed dramatically in August, coming in essentially flat after months of consecutive gains of 3 – 5%. Despite the slowdown, Google still overwhelming led the field with 55.4% share of video viewing visits.

As the gap between YouTube and everybody else continued to widen, two players debuted in the top ranks in August, thanks to major news events. The Democratic National Convention gave a big boost to CNN.com, part of the Time Warner Network, which altogether took a 4.0% share of video viewing visits.

Meanwhile the Olympic Summer Games drove major traffic to NBCOlympics.com, part of the NBC-Universal Peacock, which shot up to 3rd place with 3.9% of visits. That marked the first time TWN and NBCU have been in the Top 5.

The newcomers, both complements to larger TV networks, displaced Fox Interactive Media (parent to MySpace) and Microsoft. FIM and Microsoft have consistently lost share over the past 12 months, but usually their loss has been YouTube’s gain.

Meanwhile, some familiar faces are climbing steadily up the mid-ranks. Facebook’s video application claimed 11th place in August with 1.5% share of visits in August, up from 17th place in January.

And Hulu took 14th place in August, with 1.2% of viewing visits. The NBCU-Fox joint venture debuted in the Top 20 in January, making it the fastest rising competitor to date.

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