TEDS is this year’s talker to beat

variety.com reports: "Warner Bros.’ "The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” which has won Daytime Emmy’s entertainment talkshow prize three times since 2008, is again the yakker to beat, especially with host Ellen DeGeneres coming off a highly viewed gig hosting the Oscars.

"(Emmy voting) should be done on the merits of (DeGeneres’) talkshow, not on the basis of hosting the Oscars because it’s a different category,” says Brad Adgate, research director at Horizon Media. "But her numbers are up, she’s been doing this for 12 years and she’s had some great moments on YouTube. At this stage, she’s probably the odds-on favorite. There’s no next Oprah, but I think she’s probably the closest.”

DeGeneres’ talk strip just emerged from its strongest February sweep in its 11-year history, scoring a 3.2 "most current” rating in households, according to Nielsen, second only to CBS Television Distribution’s "Dr. Phil.” (One caveat: "Ellen” only counted two weeks of ratings during the sweep, because the show was largely preempted during the two weeks of NBC’s Winter Olympics coverage.) DeGeneres last took home the Daytime Emmy trophy for talkshow host in 2008, after winning four times since her show premiered in 2003. She’s since stopped submitting for host consideration.

Since 2008, talk has been divided into two categories — entertainment and informative — so all the talkers don’t end up competing against each other. DeGeneres does want her crew to continue to have chances to win Emmys, so "Ellen” enters the entertainment talker category. It has won the talkshow trophy seven times and has hauled off 45 Daytime Emmys in total.

It’s been a strong year for talk overall, with several shows floating on ratings highs all year long, including "Dr. Phil,” Disney/ABC’s "Live With Kelly and Michael,” NBCUniversal’s "Steve Harvey” and Debmar-Mercury’s "Wendy Williams.”

"Dr. Phil,” who has never won for host or show, joins "Steve Harvey,” Sony Pictures Television’s "Dr. Oz,” Disney/ABC’s "Katie,” CTD’s "The Doctors” and "Rachael Ray” in the informative category, although Dr. Phil McGraw, like DeGeneres, chooses not to contend for host. "Dr. Oz” has won this race three times — in 2011, 2012 and 2013 — making it the informative show to beat.

Meanwhile, "Ellen” and "Live,” which won in 2012, will enter as entertainment, as will network talkers "The View” (ABC) and CBS’ "The Talk.”"