>So you would expect at least some market for high-end content creation, but nothing like that actually exists.

There is. It mostly exists in the form of subscription newsletters and paid research reports of various types. Specific examples include subscriptions to IT industry analysts such as Gartner. (Typically subscriptions include personalized services in addition to reports.)

In general, this has become a much tougher gig outside of a handful of large firms--because of all the competition with free content.