Gaining 60.1 million followers on YouTube convinced an investor to give the popular “Dude Perfect” YouTube channel a huge amount of money, from $100 million to $300 million.
The channel became famous for its videos of basketball trick shots and has since gotten 17 billion views on videos of stunts like flipping water bottles and playing games. flipping water bottles on staircases and game tables to stereotypical behavior on the beach received a large sum of money from private equity firm Highmount Capital.
Comparing the concept behind the 15-year-old channel to the beginnings of WWE, Netflix, and even Disney, Highmount Capital stated that “sometimes the less obvious ideas are the ones that change our culture. We believe this kind of change is happening right now within the creator economy.”
Highmount referred to Dude Perfect as a “media giant at the meeting point of sports and comedy” that has “captured the imagination of fans with billions of views, partnerships with leading companies, a top selling toy line, and a global live tour.”
The channel is the 34th most popular on YouTube, according to data from Social Blade. CNBC said the Frisco, Texas-based channel has 25 employees and has made a series of brand partnerships, including their own smoothie at Smoothie King, a line of Nerf products and even their own board game. They plan a retail store, their own streaming platform launch and have even talked about building a $100 million theme park.
Well-known athletes, celebrities and sponsors already work with the channel — one recent video featured one of the Dudes trying to hit a baseball thrown by World Series champion pitcher José LeClerc of MLB’s Texas Rangers — Highmont said in its statement, which added that the private equity firm aims to “invest in transformational companies.”
“We’re really excited to try to unlock some of the vision and stuff that we were afraid would only be dreams up to this point,” Coby Cotton, one of the Dude Perfect founders, told CNBC. “We’re really just looking to scale a lot of the things that up until now, we’ve just never even had anywhere close to the capability to do.”
In addition to Coby Cotton, the Dude Perfect team includes Cory Cotton, Tyler Toney, Garret Hilbert and Cody Jones. The dudes met in 2009 at Texas A&M University.
Highmount noted that the total addressable market for the creator economy has grown to $250 billion from almost zero 10 years ago — and cited a Goldman Sachs report that said it could reach $480 billion by 2027. YouTube alone contributes $35 billion to the US economy and supports the equivalent of 400,000 jobs, the statement said.
The investment firm also pointed to the growing impact that online influencers have on consumers, and to the fact that large brands from Visa to pro sports teams are shifting significant advertising and brand partnership spending to creators.
“While it wasn’t obvious at first, Dude Perfect is transforming from YouTubers to a media powerhouse,” the company said, most notably because it has “built an exceptionally loyal and trusted brand with one of the most coveted categories — kids and families.”
Highmount stated that its investment marks the beginning of a long-term collaboration to establish a management team capable of seizing current and future opportunities and enhancing Dude Perfect's connection with their fans in innovative ways. The company announced that it is investing a significant amount, estimated between $100 million and $300 million by CNBC.
Highmount Capital co-founder Jason Illian expressed to CNBC, “Whether it's toys, or food and beverage or anything else, it's about creating bonds between families.” He added, “They have built an incredible business, and we aim to grow alongside them.”
