Dude Perfect is a YouTube channel focused
on sports entertainment. It was created in
April 9th of 2009 in Texas. It was founded
by Garrett Hilbert, Cody Jones, Tyler Toney,
and the twins Cory and Coby Cotton.
They all met in the Texas A&M University,
and since then they share both friendship
and work. What united them, besides their
passion for basketball, was their christian
faith. In several interviews they've expressed
that their main objective is to glorify Jesus
Christ in everything they do. The five of
them are between 31 and 32 years old, and
they’re all married.
The channel was created out of a simple bet
to get a free sandwich. After challenging
each other to see who could do better, they
filmed a home video and uploaded it to YouTube.
After just one week, the video already had
200.000 visits.
Their second video, published on May 8 of
2009, looked a little bit more polished. Just
like in the first one, they filmed themselves
throwing hoops from different points, but
they were located in a ranch this time around.
Those first clips even have fake takes. Since
the beginning, the music in their videos has
played an important role, as it gives them
dynamism and vibrancy.
Their first video to become viral is titled
"World's Longest Basketball Shot". It lasts
15 seconds, and in it you can see how they
throw a ball from the stands of the Kyle Field
football stadium in the University of Texas.
They broke the world record, and their video
was shown in different TV channels, which
made them become very known.
This resulted in them receiving many requests
to do professional collabs: The first one
was from the now former player of the Sacramento
Kings, Tyreke Evans. However, stars from all
the sport disciplines asked to collab with
them, such as NBA players, and the tennis
player Serena Williams. Even singers such
as Tim McGraw and other celebrities!.
Then the world records came in: Dude Perfect
has broken many Guinness Records over the
years, specially those related to throwing
basketballs. For instance, in 2016 they managed
to score a basket with the head, from a distance
of 37.125 feet. Many of those videos were
sponsored by several brands, such as Ruffles.
Over the years they've become more professional,
and have experimented with other sports such
as ping pong, sporting battles, ball throwing,
golf… it's like no sport is out of their
reach, and their numbers don't stop growing!
In April of 2020 they had more than 50 million
subscribers to their YouTube channel, and
their most watched video has more than 285
million views. In it you can see how they
beat the challenge of throwing a water bottle
and make it fall standing up, on different
surfaces, and from impossible platforms.
Their stunts, their enthusiasm when filming,
and all the tools at their disposal, catapulted
their channel as one of the most renown channels
in the world. At the beginning of 2020 they
had more than 18 million followers on Facebook,
and had more than 10.6 M followers on Instagram.
And of course they are also present on TikTok
(how could they not?), with over 6 million
followers and almost 60 million likes.
Since its start, Dude Perfect has promoted
other initiatives. In 2011 they released a
free game for iPhone and Android which they
later improved. They even had their own TV
show at one point: The Dude Perfect Show,
broadcasted in CMT during 2016, and in Nickelodeon
during 2017. Cory Cotton, member of Dude Perfect,
wrote a book called "Go Big" where he shared
the secrets of the channel's success.
Despite this diversification, the main attraction
is still their videos. They are currently
working from a huge warehouse in Texas which
could be compared to an amusement park, and
they receive sponsorships from popular brands
from all around the world. What will these
five perfect dudes surprise us with next time?
We can't wait to find out!
