Network hosts like Kimmel face soaring costs and shrinking audiences as YouTube and podcast stars claim late-night’s cultural spotlight. AFP via Getty Images

Conan O’Brien sounded a little wistful when he reflected on the slow decline of late-night talk shows seven years ago. The long-standing formula of a nightly monologue followed by a carousel of guests on the promotional circuit “doesn’t make sense anymore,” he said at the time. Since then, the evidence has only piled up, as audiences increasingly consume comedy in short bursts on their phones.

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In recent years, the major network late-night shows—Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The........

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