Based on an audience study conducted in London to investigate the educational relevance of the differentiated response of young people 11 to 16 years old to popular culture, this paper discusses: (1) the reason why this and further studies of this type are needed; (2) the main findings of the study with emphasis on the way in which young people's reading and viewing habits and choices may be affected by factors of age, race, and gender, and the differentiated audience response arising from these reading and viewing choices; and (3) the educational relevance of such a response in terms of the impact this might have on educational thinking in general and media education in particular, and the ways in which such responses might inform specific classroom practice. The first section of the paper discusses the need for such research in the context of two basic approaches to the question of media influence, i.e., the "direct effects" model and the "other critical factors" model, and the incomplete picture presented by prior studies on youth and culture. A detailed description of the audience study is presented in the second section, which concentrates on two main questions--that of choice and the possible significance of various patterns of viewing reported by the children, and that of their actual response to specific television programs. The third addresses both the reasons why questions of audience are becoming increasingly important within media education, and the relevance of text/audience interaction for media education. (CGD)