Bat flips, buzzer-beaters and trick shots: fans are seeking more sports videos online

Move asiderecipe demos and movie trailers, sportsfansare increasingly searching for buzzer-beaters,bat flips,gamehighlights and amazing athleticfeats online.

This past March, for instance, U.S. basketballfans watched 3million hoursofMarch Madness-related videos online duringjust thefirst fourrounds, according to YouTube.

In recent years, the video-sharing site has seen onlinesearches for sportshighlights climb.

Meanwhile,buzzworthymoments such asToronto RaptorKyleLowry'srecentfinal-second halfcourtshot or Toronto Blue Jay JoseBautista'sdramatic toss of his bathave been watched andrewatchedendlesslyonlineby sportsfans.

Audiences today expect to see all sorts of videocontentonlineinstantly, said Cory Cotton, a member of Dude Perfect,YouTube'slargest sports-related channel.

"It's just on demand it's what people want to watch, whenever they want to watch it," he said.

"People search everything on YouTube."

Dude Perfectisa tricks and stunt group comprisingfive best friends and former college roommates: GarrettHilbert, Cody Jones, TylerToney, andtwinsCobyand Cory Cotton. They boastmore than9.8millionsubscribers, withthe most popular Dude Perfect videos having racked up between 40 to 50 million views apiece.

"When we first startedobviously YouTube was a successful platform already at that time,but there were not a lot of sports videos. Itwas more like the goofy, funny, short, almost meme-style videos," Toney told CBC News onWednesday, when the group dropped into Toronto for a visit with Canadian fans.

TheDIY nature of theonline video community has contributed to the surgeof videossince, because "anyone can create contentand they can create content about whatever they want," Toneyexplained.

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"People look at us and see us making fun videos with friends and they think to themselves 'Why can't Ido that and post it on YouTube as well and find the same success?'It puts everybody on the same level, same platform."

And it seems the audience is noticing thisproliferation of sports-relatedcontent: according to a recent Google/Ipsos Connect tally,50 per centof Canadian respondents said theycheckYouTubefirstwhen looking for a behind-the-scenes view of a sports or fitness activity.

'The sixth member of Dude Perfect'

Indeed theweb-savvy Dude Perfect crewis now able tomake a living through their online videos showing the guysexecuting clever, impossible-looking sports tricks while seeminglyhaving the best time ever.

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Whether sinking the world's longest blindfolded basketball hook shot or sending a ping pong ball through an intricately designed obstacle course, each feat ends with wild celebration, yellingand congratulations.

"The stunts, I think that's what got people's attention at first, but then as we've continued to make content...we hear a lot that people feel like they're the sixth member of Dude Perfect and we love hearing that. People feel like they have become friends with us," Cotton said.

The guysoften team up withand take inspiration for newchallenges from world-class sports professionals,such aschampion trick-shot pool player Florian Kohler or Los Angeles Ramskicker Greg [The Leg]Zuerlein.

Memorable videos includescoring a 10-pin strike with a bowling ball launched off the opposing ledge of a skate park ramp or theslickly produced, lighthearted series on stereotypes, like the entryhighlighting gym-goerarchetypessuch asthe "No idea what I'm doing"guy,the "Screamer"and the "Gallon of water" guy.

"We started almost sevenyears agoand just started out with a basketball trick shot video in our back yard. Had no intentions of creating a business or a brand or anything like that," Toney said.

"Three years ago we all decided to go Dude Perfect full time...We are just very blessed that we get to do this for a living and very humbled we have the fan base that we do."