The Launch,in Numbers
Two weeks of W.INK: a successful launch, some data about your mascots, and my first of many Lynx games.
Hey everyone! Haley here. I started writing this on the couch watching the Lynx play their final regular season game and packing to go to Minnesota to see their playoff debut with my parents. I’d never even been to a Lynx game before, so I was pretty excited to say the least! Sadly, my Lynx dreams were crushed, but the experience was unbelievable and I’ll definitely be back.
Instead of writing another data story, I thought I’d sit down and reflect on the first two weeks of W.INK and it’s been quite a ride! I launched on a Thursday with no real plan besides knowing that if I waited too long I’d have to rewrite my first few stories. A lifelong perfectionist, I didn’t feel ‘done’ but decided to go for it anyway and I’m so glad I did. A bit over two weeks later, I have over 3,700 website views by over 2,200 readers (an undercount of the real number because of ad blockers, too) and 971 Instagram followers, despite launching with essentially no marketing plan beyond boosting a few posts.
W.INK had 3k page views in the first 8 days
In fact, I started W.INK simply as a portfolio piece because most of my professional UX work is owned by big tech companies and I wanted a way to show future employers my talents. That’s not to say I didn’t spend months building what I think is a pretty awesome platform (if I do say so myself). I just had NO idea how much support I’d get for this project so quickly. It turns out that LOTS of people agree with me that women’s sports deserve data analytics, too. I’ve only posted on Instagram and LinkedIn, but W.INK keeps popping up in places I’ve never posted at all, which means some of you have been passing it along. Thank you so much for sharing!
As a thank you for all the support, here’s some fun data about YOU! You’re loving the mascot quiz: it’s been completed 1,364 times and the results tell me a little about who reads W.INK. I built the quiz so every mascot is about equally possible, but Skye came up the most (177 times) and Freddy the least (36). The five that came up most (Skye, Doppler, Scorch, Sparky and Prowl) have one big thing in common: they’re reliable and show up for the people they love. Those that came up least (Freddy, Lightning, and Blaze) tend to be the life of the party.
Some of you weren’t happy with your WNBA mascot, either, and decided to take it again (over 400 times!). In fact, half of you who got Freddy took it again (no comment), while Prowl was the mascot you were least likely to retake (so sweet!). Even though I’m a Freddy myself because of the goofy personality and uniqueness, we all know I’m a Prowl fan at heart.
About a third of W.INK readers are most like Skye, Doppler, or Scorch
SKYE
DOPPLER
SCORCH
SPARKY
PROWL
DOT
PAX
VIOLET
ELLIEDEZ
BUCKET$
ROSE
BLAZE
LIGHTNING
FREDDYSo what did you pick? More than half of you (57%) spend Friday night on the couch, already in pajamas, and most of you (62%) prefer sneakers. The most popular secret talent was noticing things before anyone else, the most popular movie was Mean Girls, and 28% of you think dogs are better than people. You’re a cozy, observant bunch, which is great news for mascots like Skye, Sparky and Doppler.
On the other hand, only 3% of you are secretly good at gymnastics, 5% picked heels (and another 5% picked cowboy boots), and 6% are at a fancy restaurant on a Friday night. The cowboy boots and the fancy restaurant are Lightning’s answers and the comedy show (7%) is Freddy’s, which is why you don’t see many of either. Unlike the rest of my work, this isn’t meant to be a legitimate data analysis. I just wanted to share some fun insights on the community and let you know that I’m working on more content like this!
W.INK readers love sneakers, dogs, and iced vanilla lattes
Ultimately, though, I’ve been most blown away by the community I inadvertently fell into. WNBA fans are creative, smart, kind, and hungry for a WNBA data zine in a way I didn’t fully anticipate. Thanks to you, I’m inspired to try and see how far I can go with W.INK! So, please subscribe, follow, like, comment, share, or otherwise reach out. Thank you so much for your support and for making my launch such a great success. There’s a lot more to come ;)
-Haley
PS: Enjoy the rest of the playoffs!
METHODOLOGYNUMBERS READ OCT 3, 2026SHOW THE WORK +HIDE −
- READERS
- a reader is a visitor Umami counted on winkhoops.com from Sept 17, 2026, launch day, through Oct 3 · Umami sets no cookies and a browser that blocks trackers is not counted, so every figure here is a floor · a reader who came on two devices counts twice · I boosted a few Instagram posts and one LinkedIn post, and the readers they brought are in these numbers
- THE QUIZ
- one result is one time the quiz reached its last screen · the quiz is built so each of the fifteen mascots is about equally likely, the scoring is not an exact science, and anyone can take it again: TAKE IT AGAIN was pressed 401 times, and a retake is one of those presses after a result: 18 of Freddy’s 36, 22 of Prowl’s 113 · which answers were picked was recorded from Sept 17 to Sept 23 only, about 1,040 runs of the quiz · an answer’s share is of the picks on its own question, six answers each, so an even split is 17% · heels and cowboy boots tied as the least-picked shoe, 51 picks each, and the chart prints heels · this is a count of what came up, not a study of who reads W.INK
- EVERYTHING ELSE
- Instagram followers as the profile showed them on Oct 4 · messages are the emails, LinkedIn messages and Instagram threads I could count, 47 in all
- CREDITS
- Readers, sources and quiz results: Umami
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