YouTube juggernaut Dude Perfect hired its first content chief as it strives to build a Disney-style flywheel
Savion Washington/Getty Images for Dude Perfect
- Dude Perfect hired its first content chief to lead its push into new shows, formats, and talent.
- The YouTube troupe is prepping programming for young kids after adding content aimed at older fans.
- It's also been scouting new talent to reduce its reliance on its namesake founders.
Dude Perfect has hired its first chief content officer, Kevin Sabbe, as the group looks to turn YouTube fame into an expansive entertainment empire.
Texas-based Dude Perfect, founded in 2009 by five college roommates, initially rose to prominence with sports stunt videos. It is one of the few creator-led companies to receive significant outside funding, raising $100 million in early 2024 from Highmount Capital.
Outside its core YouTube channel, where it has 62 million subscribers, Dude Perfect has moved into live events, including a 22-city Squad Games tour this year, a book series, sports gear, and complementary programming. It's partway through building an entertainment destination and production facility at its Frisco base, and announced plans to open a theme park.
Dude Perfect's playbook is increasingly popular among superstar creators. Dude Perfect, like other creators including MrBeast and Steven Bartlett, have referenced Disney, with its famed flywheel — where characters and stories fuel other businesses — as a model they aspire to.
As CCO, Sabbe will lead the charge to develop new shows, formats, and talent. Sabbe's career has spanned digital media, TV, and film, including positions at Tim McGraw's Down Home, Defy Media, Maker Studios, Fox, and Warner Bros. Entertainment. He'll work with Andrew Yaffe, the CEO of Dude Perfect.
Yaffe said he personally spoke with upward of 50 people for the role, and that Sabbe brought the "perfect blend" of creator and traditional media experience.
"Everything he's done over the last however many years of his career is just instrumental in where we want to get to as a company," said Yaffe, a former NBA exec who joined the company in 2024.
Dude Perfect
Sabbe's hire underscores both the opportunity and the challenge that YouTube-born creators face.
There's a recognition that they have the potential to become the next generation of entertainment companies. Hollywood giants have signed deals with YouTubers like MrBeast and Ms. Rachel to stay relevant with younger viewers. Sabbe's hire also shows that creators often need people with traditional entertainment experience to help them build businesses beyond social media.
Along with Sabbe, Yaffe has built out the company's leadership through hiring a CFO, a head of commercial partnerships, a head of legal and business affairs, a head of human resources, and a chief product officer. The company has more than 60 employees.
Dude Perfect is trying to expand beyond the 6 to 14 age range
Dude Perfect's audience sweet spot is people ages six to 14. Its leaders want to expand their audience and talent pool. Like many independent creators, Dude Perfect is thinking about how to build a company that transcends its founders — Garrett Hilbert, Tyler Toney, Cody Jones, Coby Cotton, and Cory Cotton.
Dude Perfect is aiming at older audiences through an outdoor channel and the sports podcast "Almost Athletes," with returning fans in mind. On the other end of the spectrum, execs revealed they're developing new programming for younger fans, which Sabbe loosely described as "Dude Perfect Junior."
"Our content is incredibly family-oriented," Yaffe said. "Are there opportunities for preschool-age content?" He also sees an increasing opportunity to reach sports fans ages 14 to 34.
Branching into those areas is also a way to attract new talent, Sabbe said. "Almost Athletes," for example, is cohosted by Kevin Sparkman, who joined the company in 2020.
"Our podcast, it's hosted or co-hosted by someone who's not one of the five Dudes," Sabbe said. "The interns are not one of the five Dudes. When we get into a toddler space, that will not be the five Dudes. So, for us, that's really important."
There's no guarantee creators can extend their appeal to new audiences, though. Dude Perfect Outdoors is three episodes in, with each averaging 836,000 views. Its gaming vertical has been around longer, and its view counts have varied widely, though.
The company sees room for the Dudes themselves to continue to grow, as well.
YouTube remains the company's core business, but it's also rolling out new books and selling merchandise and sporting goods, such as footballs. Its 2025 Hero Tour, a 20-city live arena tour that combined competition and comedy, drew around 200,000 people in total last summer and averaged more than $50 per ticket.
Yaffe revealed that Dude Perfect is also eyeing following some of its creator brethren — including MrBeast and Emma Chamberlain — into the food and beverage space this summer.
"For a long time, content was the biggest wedge of the pie," Yaffe said. "You'll see products and experiences continue to grow. Content will continue to grow as well, but on a percentage basis, products and experiences will grow even faster."