The Nightly is targeted at the east coast market, but unlike Seven West's eastern products, it is edited and produced in Western Australia.

[7][4] This is in order to take advantage of the time zone difference between Perth and the east coast to publish later in the day:[8] Seven West argued that audiences are now free during the evening rather than the morning.

[14] Industry commentators expressed skepticism at the decision to launch a new digital publication in a crowded market with weakening advertising revenue.

[11] Ipsos data found that 1.808 million people had read The Nightly in April, more than doubling its audience in March.

[1] De Ceglie claimed that The Nightly targets the "mainstream middle" of Australian politics, but it has been described as a right-leaning publication.