Dude Perfect is a multinational sports entertainment conglomerate company headquartered in Frisco, Texas, United States. It routinely uploads videos to YouTube. The group consists of twins Cory and Coby Cotton, Garrett Hilbert, Cody Jones, and Tyler "Ty" Toney, all of whom are former college roommates at Texas A&M University. The channel is the second most subscribed sports channel on YouTube and the 12th most subscribed channel overall. The most popular content created by Dude Perfect consists primarily of videos depicting various trick shots and stunts cut together with upbeat music mixed in. The group also regularly uploads videos of "battles," where the individual members of Dude Perfect compete against one another in a good-natured game or contest usually featuring elements and creative spins on different sports and a unique set of rules.
History
Early years
The group were betting on sandwiches via basketball shots in their backyard, which were eventually recorded on camera, and a video of trick shots at Toney's ranch called "Backyard Stuntmen" was eventually released on YouTube. Within a week, the video received 200,000 views. Afterwards, a trick shot video from the Christian summer camp Sky Ranch was released, which now has over 18 million views; for every 100,000 views the video received, Dude Perfect pledged to sponsor a child from Compassion International. Afterwards, ESPN's contacted the group for a segment, and on the third floor of Texas A&M's Kyle Field, Toney converted a shot, which traveled 3.9 seconds, a world record at the time. The shot prompted television appearances on ESPN's First Take, Pardon the Interruption, Around the Horn and SportsNation. Dude Perfect introduced the Panda mascot, who "developed a cult following at A&M basketball games" when taunting players of the opposing team.
Launch of mobile app, draft, television show, documentary
In 2011, Dude Perfect launched a free mobile game for iOS and Android, titled Dude Perfect. Later, they released Dude Perfect 2, and other games called Endless Ducker and That's Lit. Additionally, Cory Cotton authored a nationally published book titled Go Big in which he shares the secrets the group has learned along the way building a business in a world largely influenced by social media. In June 2015, the group was selected by the Harlem Globetrotters in their annual player draft. In September 2015, the group was approved for a television series entitled The Dude Perfect Show on CMT, which began airing during the first half of 2016. Its second season aired on Viacom sibling network Nickelodeon. In 2009, the group set the world record for the longest basketball shot after shooting from the fourth deck of Kyle Field. In October 2010, Dude Perfect extended their record with a "cross-tower" shot, which was high, and the basket was away from the tower's base. In March 2011, Dude Perfect unofficially extended the record with a shot from the top of NRG Stadium, which lasted 5.3 seconds. In January 2014, the group successfully attempted a shot from the -high Reunion Tower, with Jones and Hilbert holding the basket at the base of the tower. In 2018, Dude Perfect broke the record for longest Lego walk and longest pea blow in "Overtime" episodes 2 and 3. In episode 6 of "Overtime", Dude Perfect broke the record for the farthest distance traveled rolling across Swiss balls. Their 2016 video Water Bottle Flip Edition was named number 6 on YouTube's list of the top 10 trending videos of 2016. Their 2017 video Ping Pong Trick Shots 3 was named No. 3 on YouTube's list of the top 10 trending videos of 2017. Their 2018 video Real Life Trick Shots 2 was named number 2 on YouTube's list of the top 10 trending videos of 2018. Partnering with YouTube Originals in 2020, Dude Perfect released a documentary: 'Backstage Pass', which explored the creation and behind the scenes of their live tour: 'Pound It, Noggin'.
Legitimacy
Despite their success, questions arose over the legitimacy of the group's tricks; Good Morning America hosted a segment about the tricks and whether they were real, though experts contacted by GMA stated they were unable to find evidence of the tricks being fake. Regarding the doubts, Cody Jones said, "We love it when people claim it's fake because it makes the shots seem even more ridiculously impossible; and we get more publicity and hits on YouTube so we love the mystery of knowing whether it's real or fake." Tyler Toney and the Cotton twins have explained that it takes multiple attempts when filming before successfully converting the final shots.