In its original American broadcast, "Pretenders" was seen by an estimated 9.72 million household viewers and gained a 1.7/5 ratings share among adults aged 18–49, according to Nielsen Media Research. This means that 1.7 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode, while 5 percent of all households watching television at that time watched it. This was a 3% increase in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by 9.40 million viewers with a 1.5/5 in the 18-49 demographics. With these ratings, "Person of Interest" was the third most watched show on CBS for the night, behind "" and "NCIS", first on its timeslot and fifth for the night in the 18-49 demographics, behind "NCIS: New Orleans", "NCIS", "The Voice", and the sixth game of the 2014 World Series.