The slam dunk rise of YouTube’s Dude Perfect, from basketball trick shots to trusted brand

With videos racking up over 18.5 billion views, the five friends who make up the US sports-comedy group are hailed as ‘content trailblazers’

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(From left) Garrett Hilbert, Coby Cotton, Tyler Toney, Cody Jones and Cory Cotton, the founding members of Dude Perfect, at their new headquarters in Texas. Photo: AP

Published: 7:15pm, 19 Apr 2025

The five friends who now make up sports and comedy group Dude Perfect had no intention of creating a brand, or even a business, 16 years ago when they started making a video of basketball trick shots while they were attending Texas A&M University, in the United States.

“My dad would say we were procrastinating studying for finals at that time, which he is 100 per cent correct [about],” says Coby Cotton, whose twin brother Cory is also part of the group. “We were just having fun, and that’s one thing that I am grateful to say has continued.”

When they posted that first video on YouTube in April 2009, the clip was just a way to share with family and friends what they were doing with an US$80 portable basketball hoop they bought for the backyard.

Things have expanded far beyond that small circle. And the tricks got much bigger, like their world record shot made from 856 feet (261 metres) high in Las Vegas, in the US state of Nevada, two summers ago.

Dude Perfect now has more than 61 million subscribers on YouTube, with videos that have got more than 18.5 billion total views. An “Average Dude vs. Steph Curry” video, with NBA star Stephen Curry, posted just four months ago has 16 million views.